SPA News Autumn 2012 - Shell UK

ISSUE 160 AUTUMN 2012 

OF TRUCKS AND ‘ROLLERS’ 

SPA GAMES MAKERS • AH! BOMBAY • BRISTOL ROADSHOW

SHELLEY’S EDITORIAL 

Dear SPA News Readers, 

Welcome to this autumn issue of SPA 

News. As I write, the glorious autumn 

sun is shining through my window – long 

may it continue, and where was it during 

the summer …? 

If you find yourself suffering from postsummer/post-Olympic 

blues, never fear; 

here is your quarterly dose of 

recuperative medicine! In this issue, 

both our feature articles are vehicle 

related, but you don’t have to be a 

petrol head to be enthralled with Tommy 

Thomson’s magnificent watercolours, or 

Tony Jenkin’s fascinating involvement 

with the Rolls Royce – trust me. 

In the last issue of the magazine we asked 

for contributions on your memories of 

India and Ceylon, and I’m pleased to say 

that our very own chairman Colin Morsley 

has done the decent thing and willingly 

put pen to paper about his time in India 

… well, we had to nag him a little, but 

the result was well worth it, we think – 

thank you, Colin! 

On p9, Ardella shares more useful writing 

tips for those budding authors amongst 

us; in this issue she focuses on how to use 

humour to add colour to your writing. 

She also showcases author Tom Sharpe, 

an absolute master of comedy. 

SPA Secretary 

Helen Page 

helen.page@shell.com 

020 7934 5129 

Editor 

Shelley Hoppe 

shelley.hoppe@shell.com 

2 | SPA NEWS 

We also have our usual sterling advice 

from Tina Gilchrist on all things financial 

on p12, some very helpful suggestions 

about how to economise on your fuel 

costs on page 20, and, if this magazine 

doesn’t make you nod off, we have some 

very useful advice on page 21 to help 

you get a good night’s sleep. 

Elsewhere in the magazine you can read 

about the next SPA Roadshow, which is 

coming to Bristol on 9 October, and in 

Time Out (p26-27) there are special offers 

including a stunning new photographic 

exhibition at the National Gallery, and 

details about this year’s photo competition 

for members – get snapping, folks. 

We hope you enjoy this issue. Please 

continue to share your letters, thoughts, 

and stories with us; and as usual, we 

welcome any suggestions you might 

have for the magazine; please email 

them to our sub-editor, Linda Fernley: 

linda@southerlycommunications.com 

Warm wishes, 

Shelley 

SPA, Room C2013, Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA 

AUTUMN 2012 

Assistant Secretary 

Wendy Garbutt 

wendy.garbutt@shell.com 

020 7934 5137 

Editor Assistant 

Linda Fernley 

linda@southerlycommunications.com 

SPA BENEFITS 

These are some of the regular benefits. You 

may need to show your membership card 

and/or quote Shell Pensioners Association. 

Details on the SPA website: www.shell. 

co.uk/spa Our message, however, is 

always to ‘shop around’. 

Insurance 

• Home, motor travel and pet - Select 

Insurance Services (Sutton Winson) 

0800 116 4330 

• 50plus Insurance (Bluefin) 0800 195 

8002 

• Health - Bupa 0800 600 500 quote 

9147 

• HMCA 01423 866985 www.hmca. 

shellpa.htm 

• RAC breakdown - 0800 092 8609 quote 

GE0538 

• Dental insurance - Denplan 0800 

838951 

Finance 

Financial advice - Affinity 0800 019 

6076 ref. Shell/Mar/2012 

Leisure 

• Woodbank (Aberdeen) - 01224 884785 

• Quest for Adventure cruises - 0800 

056 5455 

• Lensbury Breaks - 020 8614 6444 

• Lensbury membership - 020 8614 6466 

• Fitness First - corporatemarketing@fitnessfirst.com 

- 01202 845812 

• David Lloyd Leisure - Visit your local club 

or www.davidlloyd.co.uk/employeeoffer 

ShELL SPONSORED EvENT 

• Hayward Gallery, paid exhibitions, 

Fridays only, plus 1 guest 

• National Gallery exhibitions, contact 

SPA Secretariat 

• Science Museum, contact SPA Secretariat 

• Geological Society talks www.geolsoc. 

org.uk/shelllondonlectures12 quote ‘Shell’ 

www.shell.co.uk/spa 

www.facebook.com/shell.spa.news

138 YEARS AND 

cOUNTINg … 

Andy Cole's item in issue 159 about the 

ink spillage in Benzine and Bitumen 

Accounts rang a big bell with me because 

my father Len Foster spent much of his 

Shell life there. Andy would no doubt 

remember him; Dad joined Shell in 1921. 

When Andy was in the RAF, we were in 

Bournemouth as part of Shell's wartime 

evacuation and narrowly missed being 

wiped out by a wartime bombing raid. I 

joined Anglo-Saxon in 1950 and from 

1975 was in NZ Refining, retiring in 1992 

after a working life of nearly 43 years. 

My parents joined us in New Zealand in 

1976 and lived here for their last 20 years. 

Jointly Dad and I had a Shell involvement 

of 138 years, working or on pension, and 

the clock is still ticking! 

michael Foster, NZ 

Gosh, that must be some sort of record, 

Michael – thanks for sharing it with us! 

WhAT – NO FiSh KNivES?! 

In the early 70s I invited some friends and 

their teenage son to the Guest Restaurant 

and the Exhibition at the rear of the Tower 

Entrance Hall, which provided him with 

information for a school project. We were 

all impressed that just above him in the 

Visitors’ Book was HRH The Sultan of 

Brunei. The visit was topped off with a 

view over London from the Viewing Gallery 

– always a high spot with any visitors. 

Looking back, our lunches were quite 

remarkable, whether St Helen’s Court, 

St Swithin’s or Shell Centre. However, I 

took long-retired Christopher Fairclough 

to the 23rd Floor Mess for lunch one 

year during his visit from Australia; he 

was taken aback that fish knives and 

forks were no longer provided! I also 

recall a residential course at Teddington 

in 1958 where we put our shoes outside 

our doors at night for cleaning. 

Best regards, 

martin Parsons (joined 1953 

[salary £215 pa], retired 1989) 

A FORmER 

1930S gARAgE 

TRANSFORmED 

iNTO STyLiSh 

hOmES 

I thought readers who worked out of 

Portslade, Dorking or Guildford depots 

would be interested in these pictures. 

They show the complete restoration 

of the old Manor Road Garage, East 

Preston in West Sussex. It was left 

derelict for many years after it closed, 

and when ‘rediscovered’ the garages 

at the rear were found to contain some 

vintage cars, including a Rolls Royce 

and a very early steam traction 

engine, now residing at Amberley 

Working Museum. You can see from 

the pictures that the developers have 

made a great job of restoring the 

grade 2 listed building into eight 

stylish Art Moderne residences, 

complete with pumps. 

Colin Terry, West Sussex 

IN THE PIcTuRE … 

SPA LETTERS 

Before ... abandoned Manor Road Garage 

After... Manor Road Garage appartments 

I joined Shell Transport & Trading Co. in 1947 straight from University with a 

degree in English. I started in St. Mary Axe as assistant librarian in the Photographic 

Library working with Betty Pennock. After a time, the unit was moved to St. Helens 

Court, where I continued in the library with Ann Hazelhurst and another assistant, 

Betty Godber. We had a large selection of photographs from all over the world, 

covering many general subjects as well as the oil industry, and were frequently 

called upon by many companies for help. 

After a few years I changed to working with the photographers – we had five in 

those days led by Derek Knight under the direction of Jack Bryson and Geoffrey 

Darlington. I would write up the stories behind their photographs and then 

caption each one before they went into the library. My assistant, who laboriously 

typed everything out, was Irene Palmer, whose name appeared in a recent issue 

of SPA. 

The photographers travelled the world covering all aspects of oil and gas. When 

abroad they would often cover local stories of interest too, e.g. head-hunters in 

Borneo and bull fighting in Venezuela. 

Unfortunately, my career was cut short as I married John Lamb who was in the 

Advertising section, which also came under the Publicity Dept. In those days 

husbands and wives were not allowed to work in the same department. John 

and I and three daughters spent many happy years in Kenya, New Zealand and 

finally Thailand, before retirement to Surrey. 

Pat Lamb 

SPA NEWS | 3


ThANK yOU! 

Thank you so much for your letters; 

we would love to be able to publish 

them all but we just don’t have the 

space. However, we thoroughly 

enjoy every single one of them, so 

please keep sending them in! Ed 

P.S. if emailing, please remember to 

tell us your location! 

Florida’s shell 

invasion 

The article on seashells in the last edition 

of SPA News reminds me of holiday in 

Florida earlier this year. We had booked 

a few days on Sanibel Island and while 

looking for our accommodation, noticed 

that we were driving down Donax Street 

and had already passed Cardium 

Street. Other streets passed were 

Pyrula, Oliva, Fulgur, and Nerita – all 

shells that have given their names to at 

least one Shell tanker. At first we thought 

that we’d come across an enclave of 

Shell Tanker (or possibly Shell Lubricant) 

retirees, but the real explanation was 

that the island’s beaches often yield 

interesting shells, especially following a 

storm. Sanibel is, apparently, well-known 

with conchologists. 

mike Riley, Weybridge (ex- 

STASCO) 

Thanks Mike – I bet you were relieved 

by the real explanation of all those 

shell streets?! 


ANSWER TO OUR OIL DRUM QUERY 

The drum and hand-pump was the original 

method of distributing fuels, almost 

worldwide. Buried tanks were issued only 

to customers whose offtake justified the 

expense of the tank and the bulk tankers 

required to keep them supplied. 

They were, and still are, used in this country 

by contractors whose sites move about, as 

well by some farmers in remote districts. 

They were the most common form of 

distribution when I was in the field in Africa. 

The pump illustrated was fairly sophisticated 

and tended to be used by retailers rather 

than direct consumers. Each of the 

chambers on top of the ensemble held 

exactly one gallon, and as one chamber 

was emptying into the customer’s tank the 

other was being filled by the pump 

attendant. This assured the customer that 

he was receiving what he was paying for. 

Naturally, the system was wide open to 

fiddles; I imagine that many former reps 

have dozens of examples of the ingenuity 

displayed to squeeze a few extra cents out 

of the barrel! 

Don – ‘an old African hand’ 

Your article in the Spring SPA News about the Essex Branch brought back 

a host of memories. I joined Shell in 1949, and knew Iris and Joy her 

sister-in-law very well, as the tennis team travelled to Stanlow, Heysham 

and Carringinton with the cricket and football teams I was a member of. 

Three events from Shell haven stand out: 

On 1 February 1953, I was on the 6-2 shift; going through Stanford-le-Hope 

I picked up Jock Lennon (who died about two years ago) on my motorbike, a 

500cc twin B.S.A. On the marsh road we ran into water rushing across it, 

over a foot deep in places. When we parked up, we were organised into 

gangs to fill sandbags to breach in the seawall, which we did all day and 

managed to hold the next high tide. The refinery was obviously flooded and 

shut down – it was probably the hardest day’s work I did for Shell. 

One day in 1950, a storage tank on the East Site blew up, our plants were 

shut down, and we ran out hoses for the Firemen and carried cans of foam 

for them; a man called Brookbank received a medal for shutting a connecting 

valve between the tanks, while he was sprayed by firemen. 

In 1964 I moved on promotion from the Fertilizer plant to the Reformer on the 

M.E.C. site. The day after I moved the Fertilizer plant blew up. Three men I 

knew were killed and several injured. Tom Goody, who had replaced me, 

saved several people and received the B.E.M. and a gold watch. That was a 

near miss. 

Peter Watts, yarm 

Peter – we hope that disaster hasn’t continued to follow you around!

In 1960, after five years in St Helen’s 

Court, I was posted to the Oil Supply 

Department in Caracas. The head of the 

department, Maurice Bettany, was due to 

retire after 30 years in the country. Instead 

of a big farewell party, he asked if he 

could use the company aircraft to take a 

party of colleagues for a weekend visit to 

Angel Falls – the highest waterfall in the 

world – which he’d never managed to see 

in his 30 years stay. One or two older 

colleagues dropped out, so I was kindly 

invited after just six weeks in Caracas. 

We flew over the plateau above the falls, 

where Jimmy Angel, a US bush pilot, 

had landed his plane about 22 years 

earlier. From the air the plane looked as 

though it had just landed but in fact it 

iNSPiRED by DA viNCi 

In January I was lucky to be allocated Shell tickets to the Leonardo Da Vinci 

Exhibition, which was inspirational, especially Leonardo’s insight that “painting 

the body was easy but painting the mind is difficult, it requires elusive perception 

and subtle illustration”. 

This inspiration prompted me to submit an abstract for "Organisational Mind 

Management" to the Loss Prevention International Symposium, for presentation in 

Florence 2013; the full paper aims to illustrate organisational mind management 

and operational envelope risk by comparing two accidents, the Herald of Free 

Enterprise capsize and the S61 Helicopter crash on the Brent Spar July 1990. I 

was a member of the Shell team for this Spar crash; however, all the information 

used is in the public domain. 

The paper successfully passed the first evaluation and if the final manuscript is 

approved I will present it in Florence next year. In December 2011, I completed 

a Law Degree, so hopefully writing papers will be a way of passing on my experience 

and keeping the brain active. The full manuscript will be available in 2013. 

Readers may be interested in the links to the Conference and Accident Investigations: 

www.wp-lossprevention.eu/loss-prevention-symposia/next-loss-prevention-symposium 

www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/HofFEfinal.pdf 

www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/2-1991%20G-BEWL.pdf 

brian Edmonds, Farnham 


cOcK-OF-THE-ROcK AND WATERFALLS … VENEzuELAN TALES 

had got bogged down, so that Jimmy 

and a companion had to hike for a week, 

relying on local Indians to guide them 

back to civilisation. 

During our evening meal at camp in 

Canaima, we were visited by a tapir 

that apparently emerged from the jungle 

every night to be fed by staff. A year 

later, I was married to Vivienne, whom 

I’d met at St Helen’s Court; on returning 

to Caracas we visited Canaima and took 

a boat trip with Rudy Trufino, who’d built 

a house for himself and his family, by 

the river. He’d installed a bar for visitors 

and decorated the walls with various 

animal trophies, including a 12-foot 

baby anaconda skin, a five-foot 

rattlesnake, and a beautiful bright 

orange stuffed cock-of-the-rock; 

memorable experiences indeed! 

Keith Farquharson, inverness 

Thanks, Keith. For those of you, like us, 

who don’t know what a cock-of-the-rock 

is, see below. 

SHELL ‘ART 

ATTAcK’ 

I thought perhaps readers of the Shell 

Pensioners magazine might like to see 

the attached photograph. It is one of a 

series of art works made from all sorts 

of oddments (don’t like to use the word 

‘scrap!) which have been erected in 

parkland by the banks of the Danube 

Canal in Vienna. We were there on a 

river cruise and had taken a bike ride 

along the waterside cycle track. 

Laura Lindsay, goldsborough, 

North yorkshire 

Thanks Laura – looks like it’d give the 

Daleks a run for their money! 


HELEN’S PAGE 

FROm ThE SPA SECRETARy 

At least the clocks haven’t gone back yet, 

but everything else seems to be closing 

after the summer. The Olympic flame has 

gone out. For the first time since we moved 

from Shell Centre, I was heard to say how 

exciting it was at Canary Wharf, at the 

heart of it all. If you are planning to visit 

London, the cable car between the O2 

Arena and the Excel is a must: scary but 

with spectacular views over the City, and 

a bargain at £3.40 (one-way with an 

Oyster card). Only the name is a little 

over-the-top: Emirates Air Line. 

As Shell Centre, too, winds down, there 

was a sale of the family silver – literally. 

Crockery, knives, forks and planters were 

all up for grabs. A set of cups and saucers 

was advertised at £5. You can imagine 

my disappointment when I discovered 

that was for one cup and saucer, not a 

set of 6, though member Lillian Johns 

pointed out these were the ones used by 

senior management. Another member, 

seeing it on our Facebook page, 

commented that anywhere else it would 

be called a car boot sale! Nevertheless, 

I pushed the boat out and bought one, 

which I’m happy to award to any member 

who has a good, relevant story. 

cup & Saucer 

My holiday too, seems a distant memory, 

the freckles faded. I was grateful to Paul 

Wood, Yorkshire branch, for alerting me 

to a fossil walk on the east coast, which 

he was leading on behalf of NE Yorks 

Geology Trust. The age range spanned 4 

to 74. We were captivated, finding golden 

ammonites, pinners and other treasures. 

The drawback was that Paul had some 

mishap involving his foot, so another guide 

stepped in at the last minute. I’ll be back, 

and I’m sure Paul will too. 


Fossil walk 

Still on endings, we say farewell to Wendy 

Garbutt, Assistant Secretary, who has 

decided it’s time to swim away from her 

sea of membership forms and queries. I’m 

sure many of you have contacted Wendy 

for information and advice. We have had 

a good response to our stop press request 

for applications in the last issue, and are 

now busy interviewing. I hope to be in a 

position to introduce Wendy’s replacement 

next time. However, Wendy is not deserting 

us altogether, and has agreed to stay on 

for a while to help out. 

Diaries – gone! We were inundated with 

orders, as usual, and have to thank a small 

band of volunteers who came in, licking 

and sticking, to get them all out, in 

particular Rosy Nash, Pauline Langley, 

Robin Nye and Hazel Mansfield. We even 

roped in our Chairman, Colin Morsley, as 

he had a little time after interviewing 

applicants. There was a mix up with the 

text from last year, so you may have been 

surprised to receive a blue instead of 

burgundy diary, but I’m sure you will agree 

it’s good to have a change of colour and 

the dark blue is very attractive. Apologies 

to those whose orders could not be fulfilled. 

Now we just have to work out how much 

we can donate to the Benevolence Fund. 

Every so often I am contacted by a 

member who is having a clear-out and 

wants to find a home for that beast of a 

tome about the history of Shell. It was 

offered to members in 2007 at a bargain 

price. Those who ordered it were 

shocked when it landed on their doorstep 

– four volumes and weighing in at nearly 

a stone. Those who couldn’t lift it, left it 

there as a decorative doorstop. One 

member, Ray Tincknell, came up with an 

ingenious idea. After being rejected by 

the Shell Archives, he contacted Upton 

House, a National Trust property, 

originally the home of Lord Bearsted, a 

son of Marcus Samuel. They have a 

collection of Shell memorabilia and were 

keen to have further information about 

Shell history. Has anyone found 

somewhere convenient to store their 

copy? I’m intrigued to know if anyone 

read it from cover to cover. 

But we’re not closing the curtains for 

winter yet and have one more exciting 

event this year – the roadshow at Bristol 

Golf Club on 9 October. Read more on 

page 16. I hope I will meet plenty of 

members from the south west there. And 

it will still be before the end of British 

Summer time.

STAREhE FUTURE and 

givE AS yOU LivE 

Shell has a long-standing relationship with Kenya’s ‘Starehe Centres’, which provide 

free home and secondary education to some of Kenya’s poorest, yet brightest, 

children. Shell initially donated two tin huts to house orphans in the slums of Nairobi 

in 1959 and has continued to provide support ever since. 

For members who shop online, there is a new opportunity to raise funds for the 

Starehe Centres at no cost to you. The fundraising programme is called Give as you 

Live, and it works whereby thousands of brands donate a percentage of their online 

sales to nominated charities. Shell UK Country Chair Graham van’t Hoff said recently: 

“I am proud of the support that Shell and its staff have provided to Kenya’s children 

over the years. By giving them shelter, healthcare and an education, we give them 

a real chance in life.” 

Download Give as you Live at http://www.giveasyoulive.com/starehe or find out 

more about Starehe on www.starehe.org 

HELEN’S PAGE 

REmiNDER: 

Shell carol concert 

Fossil walk 

The Shell carol concert will be at 

the usual venue, St Clement Danes 

in the Strand, at midday on 

Monday 17 December. Pensioners 

are very welcome. 


THE LIgHTER SIDE 

bRighT SPARKS 

TEAChER: Why are you late? 

CAROL: Class started before I got here. 

TEAChER: John, why are you doing your maths 

multiplication on the floor? 

JOhN: You told me to do it without using tables. 

TEAChER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?' 

gLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L 

TEAChER: No, that's wrong 

gLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it. 

TEAChER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water? 

DONALD: H I J K L M N O 

TEAChER: What are you talking about? 

DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O. 

TEAChER: Winnie, name one important thing we have 

today that we didn't have 10 years ago. 

WiNNiE: Me. 

TEAChER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ‘I’ 

miLLiE: I is … 

TEAChER: No, Millie ... Always say 'I am' 

miLLiE: All right ... I am the ninth letter of the alphabet. 

TEAChER: Clyde, your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly 

the same as your brother's … Did you copy his? 

CLyDE: No, sir. It's the same dog. 

TEAChER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps 

on talking when people are no longer interested? 

hAROLD: A teacher. 

CLASSiFiEDS …? 

FREE yORKShiRE TERRiER 

Eight years old, hateful little b*stard. Bites! 

COWS, CALvES: NEvER bRED 

Also one gay bull for sale. 

FREE PUPPiES 

Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd; father 

is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound. 

FREE PUPPiES 

Half Cocker Spaniel, half sneaky neighbour's dog. 


THEN AND NOw 

The Shell Service Station in Winston-Salem, North 

Carolina, was a filling station constructed in 1930 

following a decision in the 1920s by the Shell 

Company to begin marketing in North Carolina. The 

building is an example of representational or novelty 

architecture and was listed on the National Register 

of Historic Places on 13 May 1976. Preservation 

North Carolina, an organisation dedicated to the 

preservation of historic sites, spent one year and 

$50,000 to bring the landmark station back to its 

original condition. 

Workers removed layers of faded yellow paint to 

reveal the Shell's original yellow-orange colour. The 

original front door was repaired and a crack fixed 

that had been previously sealed with nothing more 

than black tar. The wooden, trellised shelter that 

housed the car wash and allowed cars to be washed 

and/or serviced in the shade was reconstructed as 

well. Shell donated restored gas pumps and replica 

lamp posts to help finish off the restoration. The 

landmark now serves as a satellite office for 

Preservation North Carolina. 

Thanks to Bill Scott and Paddy Briggs for this submission. 

Then .... 

... and now!

WRiTE RULES 6: NO LAUgHINg MATTER... 

You may not regard yourself as a comic 

writer but even serious stories need 

moments of levity to lighten the mood. 

Sometimes a comic scene is deliberately 

placed before a moment of tragedy to 

heighten the drama through contrast. 

Sometimes a funny character can create 

variety. We don't think of Jane Austen 

as primarily comic but her ironic analysis 

of human foibles and creations such as 

Miss Bates and Mr. Collins demonstrate 

her great skills as a humorist. 

There is a broad spectrum of comedy 

from gentle, observational social comedy 

to far-fetched, fast-paced farce, to blacklycomic 

realistic drama. Farce is the staple 

of TV sit-com but novelists like Tom Sharpe 

use similar tone and techniques with slapstick 

elements and frenetic plots. 

Satire can be farcical but also uses parody 

and wit as weapons for social commentary. 

The satirist appears to approve of the very 

thing he wishes to attack, often reversing 

expected norms. A good example is The 

Thick of It, a TV political satire which uses 

the 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary form to 

depict bad language, bullying and callous 

dishonesty as the norm among politicians 

and their aides. 

Here are some more comic techniques: 

1. Create identification with the 

central character – we share their 

viewpoint; we empathise with their 

discomfort; we enjoy their bad behaviour, 

e.g. Kingsley Amis' lecherous, drunken, 

young academic Lucky Jim (1954). We 

live vicariously and wickedly through 

our favourite, naughty characters. We 

may not want Victor Meldrew for a next 

door neighbour but we enjoy his outbursts 

on everyday irritants; he says what we 

think: "I don't believe it!!" 

2. Create two dimensional 

characters, larger-than-life stereotypes 

with exaggerated personality traits, so 

we do not take any harm that befalls 

them seriously; in fact we enjoy their 

misfortunes – Victor Meldrew again. 

3. Comic names – these can be 

seaside postcard silly, e.g. Mrs 

Shufflebotham, or reflective of character 

like snobbish Hyacinth Bucket, 

pronounced, of course, "Bouquet". 

4. bathos – use high-flown, rather 

pompous language to describe a very 

ordinary event; apply Olympic jargon 

to the school egg and spoon race: 

"Tension mounts in the playground as 

after months of intensive training and 

precision egg-laying..." 

6. Exaggeration – slapstick action, 

improbable emotions and attitudes signal 

to the reader that you intend to be funny 

so they don't react in the usual way to, for 

example, violence. When an unfortunate 

chap in a Tom Sharpe novel inadvertently 

puts his most "precious possessions" in a 

blender we laugh, whereas if this were to 

happen in a Mafia story it would be an 

horrific torture scene. 

7. Fish out of water – placing a 

character in a situation alien to them is a 

common device, e.g. the sophisticated 

Flora amidst her simple country cousins in 

Stella Gibbon's Cold Comfort Farm 

(1932), or Evelyn Waugh's unworldly 

nature diarist, William Boot, mistaken for 

a foreign correspondent and sent to a war 

zone in Scoop (1938). Role reversals are 

funny too: in Absolutely Fabulous we enjoy 

sensible Saffy playing the adult to her 

delinquent mother, Edina. 

8. hyperbole – over-blown figures of 

speech. Blackadder excels in this when 

he tells Baldrick his brain is so small "that 

if a hungry cannibal cracked your head 

open, there wouldn't be enough to cover 

a small water biscuit". 

9. irony – the use of words to convey 

meaning that is the opposite of its literal 

meaning, e.g. “You're marrying your fifth 

wife?! What excellent experience for a 

marriage guidance counsellor.” 

10. Parody – a humorous imitation of 

serious literature or a specific genre such 

as Jane Austen parodying the gothic novel 

in Northanger Abbey. Austen builds 

tension with gloomy corridors and strange 

wRITINg TIPS 

Ardella draws on her experience as a stand-up comedian and script-writer to look 

at the serious business of using humour in your writing. 

noises but when young Catherine Morland 

finds an ancient parchment our expectations 

are brought down to earth with a bump 

– it's a mundane laundry list. 

REcOMMENDED READS 

COMEDY OUT OF DARKNESS 

Born in London in 1928, after serving in 

the Royal Marines, Tom Sharpe moved to 

South Africa in 1951, where the unjust 

apartheid regime inspired him to write 

satire. He was imprisoned, then expelled 

in 1961. He wrote Riotous Assembly 

(1971), in which the murder of a Zulu cook 

sparks off intrigues that lead to ostriches 

exploding on city streets. Next came a 

sequel, Indecent Exposure (1973), and 

Porterhouse Blue (1974), which sent up the 

inner workings of an ancient university. 

His biggest success was Wilt, written whilst 

teaching at a technical college. Wilt, a 

lecturer, is accused of murdering his wife 

after he is seen trying to hide a blow-up 

doll. Sharpe wrote the first draft in 24 hours 

(although he spent six months revising it). 

Sharpe admires P G Wodehouse but his 

dark humour derives from hearing First 

World War veterans tell grim jokes of life 

and death in his youth. He recalls a joke 

about two privates marching up a hill. One 

asks the sergeant for a rest. He replies: 

“What do you want a rest for now, lad? 

You'll be dead in half an hour!'" 

Now 84, Sharpe is writing his 

autobiography. His most recent book 

The Wilt Inheritance (2010) is available 

in paperback. 


BUSINESS NEwS 

iS EvERyThiNg 

TO yOUR 

TASTE? 

Faye Rose, Customer 

Experience Manager, Shell UK 

Retail, shares the new Tell Shell 

programme with us and asks 

for our help 

In 2011, Shell UK Retail launched a pilot 

to gain feedback from customers regarding 

their experiences of visiting a selected 

number of Shell forecourts. As a result of 

the success of the pilot, in January 2012 

the Tell Shell programme was launched 

throughout all company owned UK sites. 

The “Tell Shell” programme provides realtime 

customer feedback, giving an insight 

into the customer’s experience and 

highlighting opportunities for us to improve. 

Customers who are part of the Shell Drivers’ 

Club loyalty programme are prompted to 

provide feedback via email soon after filling 

up, while those not in the programme are 

encouraged to complete an online survey. 

Customer feedback can be accessed by all 

UK Retail staff, sales and retailers, so they 

can monitor the performance of each UK 

company-owned station. The programme 

encourages Retailers, as well as Operations 

and Sales teams, to take immediate action 

to improve and enhance operational 

efficiency, and continuously improve the 

customer experience on site. 

“Adopting the Voice of the Customer 

programme and listening to what 

customers are saying in real time, and 

reacting according to their needs, we 


hope to provide a better level of customer 

service. We want to put the customer at 

the centre of our and our Retailers’ 

businesses, and this programme will help 

us to do that,” says Melanie Lane, General 

Manager – UK Retail. 

Six-month results of Tell Shell 

For the first half of 2012, Tell Shell has 

provided a transparent view of what 

customers think of their visits to Shell 

service stations. With over 20,000 pieces 

of feedback, two-thirds coming from our 

Shell Drivers’ Club members, the overall 

rating experience was 8.5/10. Many 

service stations achieve really excellent 

scores and feedback, of which they can 

be justifiably proud, whilst at others the 

opposite has been the case. 

The positive feedback has highlighted 

customers’ appreciation of many aspects 

of the Shell experience, including 

Forecourt Attendant Service, the quality 

of Shell’s fuels, especially Shell V-Power, 

new layouts and stations newly converted 

to Shell, our hot food range, and the 

installation of Costa Coffee machines in 

over 400 sites. 

Internally, we have also seen successes 

in Tell Shell; very positive feedback has 

been received about the tool, and there 

is a growing promptness in the action to 

and resolution of customers’ issues. 

Although 6.1% of feedback through Tell 

Shell was negative, this has helped us to 

understand what customers consider key 

areas for us to improve in, including: 

availability of clean toilets; length of 

queues for pumps and at the till; and staff 

attentiveness. Through the Tell Shell 

programme, we know exactly which 

stations are failing in these areas, and 

are now working hard to address these 

problems, so that customers notice the 

difference and choose to use Shell even 

more often. 

will you “TELL SHELL” 

what you think? 

As you can see, we’re striving to improve 

every one of our sites across the country, 

and we’d love your help. As a Shell 

Pensioner you’ve even more of a right to 

tell us what you think, because if our 

service stations are not up to your standard, 

they’re not up to ours! 

To tell us what you think and help us get 

it right for every customer, on every station, 

every day: visit www.shell.co.uk/tellshell 

and tell us how it was for you the next time 

you visit a Shell station. 

Shell is looking forward to hearing 

from you.

TiNA’S NEWS by Tina Gilchrist 

State benefits 

incapacity benefit – migration to 

Employment and Support 

Allowance (ESA) If you have been 

receiving Incapacity Benefit that is 

disregarded for tax purposes, there is 

no provision for ESA to be non taxable. 

This means that once you are transferred 

to ESA, the benefit will become a taxable 

benefit, and will no longer be 

disregarded. The migration to ESA from 

Incapacity Benefit will not affect anyone 

who reaches state pension age before 

6 April 2014. 

Care home Fees – Capital Limits 

The capital limits for residential care have 

remained at the 2011/2012 limit of 

£23,250 upper limit in England and 

Northern Ireland, but have increased to 

£23,250 in Wales and £24,750 in 

Scotland. The lower limits have remained 

at £14,250 in England & Northern Ireland 

but have increased to £15,250 in 

Scotland. There is no lower limit in Wales. 

NhS-funded Nursing Care If you 

are assessed as needing nursing care 

in a care home, the NHS contribution 

has remained at £108.70 in England 

and Northern Ireland, and fixed at 

£120.56 in Wales. In Scotland, if you 

are 65 or over and assessed as requiring 

personal care in a care home, you can 

receive a fixed payment of £163 per 

week, with a further payment of £74 if 

you require nursing care (£237 per 

week in total). If you are below 65 you 

are only eligible to receive the payment 

of £74 for nursing care. 

Care home Fees – Client 

Contribution To clarify a point on the 

charging structure for people who enter 

local authority residential care and who 

are asked to make a contribution: even 

if you have savings that are below the 

lower Capital Limit, you will be expected 

to contribute out of your income. Income 

taken into account by the Local Authority 

includes: State Pension, Pension Credit, 

income related Employment and Support 

Allowance, most Means Tested Benefits, 

Occupational Pensions, Personal 

Pensions and Annuity Income. If you are 

one of a couple, the law does not allow 

a joint charging assessment; only the 

resident’s own income and capital affects 

the assessment. Whatever your source(s) 

of income, you will be left with no less 

than the Personal Expenses Allowance 

(PEA) of £23.50 per week in England, 

Scotland and Northern Ireland, and 

£24.00 per week in Wales, although 

your Local Authority does have discretion 

to allow more PEA in "special 

circumstances". Any difference between 

what you pay and the standard rate is 

met by the Local Authority. If you choose 

more expensive accommodation than 

the Local Authority thinks you need, you 

will be liable to pay the additional costs, 

irrespective of income and capital. 

Taxation 

Tax Return initiative If HM Revenue 

& Customs (HMRC) have sent you a Self 

Assessment Tax Return or notice to 

complete a tax return for the 2009/2010 

tax year or earlier, and you have not yet 

taken any action, HMRC are offering 

you a quick and straight forward way 

to bring your tax affairs up to date. There 

is also a dedicated telephone helpline 

to support you, Tel: 0845 601 8818 

To take part in the Tax Return Initiative 

you need to tell HMRC that you intend 

to do so. You can do this by completing 

an online form and sending it to HMRC 

either electronically or by post. It only 

takes a few minutes. You then need to 

complete and submit your late tax 

return(s) and pay what you owe (or 

claim any repayment that might be due) 

by 2 October 2012. 

You can instantly submit your notification 

form online to HMRC using the 'submit 

by email' option in the form. 

Alternatively, you can complete and 

post your form to: 

HM Revenue & Customs, Tax Return 

Initiative Team, Holland House, 20 Oxford 

Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH8 8DZ 

If you do not take advantage of this 

initiative, and you submit the return and 

pay what you owe later than 2 October, 

you will have to pay a fine. 

A reminder if you have received a paper 

BENEVOLENcE 

Self Assessment Tax Return for the 

2011/2012 tax year, HMRC must 

receive it by 31 October 2012 

otherwise you will be liable for a 

penalty. Online returns for the 

2011/2012 tax year do not need to 

be received until 31 January 2013. 

New Tax helpline and Service for 

the bereaved People who have 

suffered bereavement and who need to 

contact HM Revenue and Customs 

(HMRC) will now find improved and 

streamlined processes. The department 

has created a dedicated telephone 

helpline and address box for people 

who need to contact HMRC about PAYE 

and Self Assessment matters relating to 

bereavement. Family members or 

personal representatives who phone 

HMRC about tax and bereavement will 

also be able to speak to a dedicated 

team of advisors. 

HMRC has, in addition, simplified its 

guidance and letters to customers to 

make the process of dealing with tax 

following bereavement more 

straightforward. The main form used to 

finalise the tax affairs of anyone who 

has died, the R27, has also been 

redesigned to make it easier to complete. 

The Bereavement Helpline is 0845 300 

0627, where callers will be able to select 

option buttons to speak to a bereavement 

tax adviser, 8am to 8pm, Monday to 

Friday, and 8am to 4pm on Saturday. 

The address for PAYE and Self 

Assessment matters relating to 

bereavement is: 

HM Revenue & Customs, Pay As You 

Earn & Self Assessment, PO Box 4000, 

Cardiff CF14 8HR 

general 

Passport Fees The fee for a new 

passport has reduced from £77.50 to 

£72.50 from 3 September 2012. A 

standard passport is 32 pages; if you are 

a frequent traveller and need extra space 

for visas, you can apply for a 48-page 

passport; the fee for this has reduced from 

£90.50 to £85.50. This is not available 

for child applications. A reminder that 

passports are free for those born on or 

before 2 September 1929. 


BENEVOLENcE 

For further information contact the 

Passport Advice Line on 0300 222 0000. 

vehicle Check Services Before you 

buy a used vehicle you can now check 

the details online or by telephone using 

services from the Driver and Vehicle 

Licensing Agency (DVLA), as follows: 

1. Online vehicle enquiries You can use 

this service to check certain information 

about a vehicle that DVLA holds on its 

database, including: year of manufacture; 

date of first registration; engine capacity; 

colour; expiry date of the current tax disc 

or SORN declaration; and vehicle excise 

duty rate. 

2. Enquiries by telephone There are two 

premium rate telephone services that give 

vehicle information. Calls are charged at 

49p per minute. Lines are open during 

the following times: 

Driver and Vehicle General lines: Mon to 

Fri 8.00 am to 7.00 pm; Sat 8.00 am to 

2.00 pm 

Electronic and Driver Licensing online - 

Mon to Fri8.00 am to 8.30 pm; Sat 8.00 

am to 5.30 pm 

The vehicle check service gives details 

of date of registration, year of 

manufacture, engine capacity (cc), CO2 

emissions and confirmation of colour. 

Tel: 0906 185 8585 

The date of liability (vehicle tax due date) 

line gives the expiry date of the current 

tax disc. Tel: 0906 765 7585 

Ian Landeryou 

our new Secretary & Treasurer 

Tina gilchrist of cBG Solutions Ltd has been 

contracted by the SPBA to provide updates and a 

helpline on state benefits. 

For the helpline service, contact Tina: 

cBG Solutions Ltd, 44 Rydal Road, Harrogate, North 

Yorkshire, HG1 4SD, 01423 819452 or 07711 555931 

tina.gilchrist@cbgsolutions.co.uk 


SUTTON WiNSON ANNOUNCEmENT 

At Select Insurance Services (provided by Sutton Winson) we have a number of 

policies that are administered directly with Royal and Sun Alliance (RSA). These 

policies have been with RSA for some time and would have been taken out prior 

to August 2005. 

Since August 2005, we have had the technology to administer policies ourselves. 

It was always our intention to migrate the policies that were taken out before then 

back to us, as these are for our clients. This process started last month. If you have 

your car insurance with RSA through the Shell Scheme from Sutton Winson, you 

will receive your renewal from us this year. There will be no change to your policy 

or the benefits you enjoy; it will simply be us you talk to rather than RSA. 

We hope the migration is as smooth as possible but do not hesitate to contact us 

with any queries on 020 8892 4854. 

FACEbOOK 

SECURiTy 

We still have occasional comments from 

members that although they would like to 

join the SPA Facebook page, they are 

concerned about SPA members being able 

to see their home pages and messages 

etc. Just ‘liking’ a group or a page does 

not mean that you are willing to share 

information with them, as long as your 

privacy settings are tailored correctly. 

To make sure that only your ‘friends’ see 

your information, go to the home tab at 

the top right hand corner in your Facebook 

home page. From the drop down list, select 

‘Privacy Settings’. Here you will have a 

choice of ‘Public’, ‘Friends’ or ‘Custom’. 

If you merely choose ‘Friends’ then friends, 

and friends of friends, will be able to see 

your details. Instead, for a tighter degree 

of control choose ‘Custom’ and there you 

can select from four self-explanatory 

options. Choosing ‘Friends’ means that 

ONLY those people you have selected as 

friends will see your information. 

Alternatively, you can make your own 

select list of who you allow access to your 

page, or you can even choose ‘Only me’, 

which means that nobody will be able to 

see any of your details. Remember to click 

‘Save changes’ when you have adjusted 

your security settings. 

You can then feel free to safely ‘Like’ the 

SPA page, and keep tabs on the latest 

announcements, last minute offers, and 

other matters relevant to SPA members. 

www.facebook.com/shell.spa.news 

Any questions, my contact details are on 

page 2. 

Linda Fernley 

When you contact Tina, please mention the SPA and 

give her a phone number on which she can speak to 

you if necessary. 

ian Landeryou 

SPBA Secretary/Treasurer 

020 7934 5131 

Ian.C.Landeryou@shell.com

Born in Newquay, Cornwall, in 1942, Tony 

Jenkin attended Torbay Boys' Grammar in 

Devon, where he developed a fascination 

for astronomy and science, which led to 

his first job in the Atomic Energy Research 

Establishment, Harwell. He joined Shell in 

1971 as a group leader for shift operations 

at the UK Computer Centre, based in Shell 

Centre. Tony's first love, however, was cars 

– not stars or computers. 

"I was a car fanatic from my first 1936 

Austin Seven days and have been ever 

since," says Tony. "For a few years I even 

owned a classic Aston Martin Lagonda, 

one of only 500 made." 

Tony's first overseas posting was to Oman 

where he, wife Jenny, and their three 

children spent three and a half years. In 

those days, the Sultanate offered little for 

a car enthusiast, with only one road 

running from the oil camp to the airport: 

"It was pretty rough and ready but worst 

of all the ship delivering all the new 

vehicles to Muscat sank off the coast 

leaving only three cars. I was stuck with 

a tiny little Fiat!" Tony must have been 

pleased to get posted back to 

Wythenshawe. In May 1979, he returned 

to Shell Centre to run the Computer User 

Training team, familiarising staff in the UK, 

Nigeria, Greece and Brunei/Sarawak 

with microcomputers. 

However, disaster struck in 1982 when 

Tony had a terrible car accident: "Luckily 

I was driving a Mercedes 200 which has 

a strong cage to protect the interior and 

that saved us. We all survived." Tony 

could not return to work for many months 

and was medically retired in 1985, aged 

only 42. "Shell gave me fantastic support," 

says Tony, "during my recovery and 

subsequent 10 years of litigation. Later, 

when I worked for Manpower Services 

Commission, setting up an IT training 

centre in Basingstoke for young people, 

Shell donated redundant furniture." 

Nerves somewhat shaken by the crash, 

Tony took to driving a 4.5 "Big Boy", the 

safe and solid Mercedes 450SEL, which 

he kept for 13 years before buying an 

elegant 1951 Bentley Mark VI, steel sports 

saloon. "I treated myself to the Bentley 

when the compensation from the accident 

FEATURE ARTIcLE 

high ROLLER 

A serious car crash ended Tony Jenkin's career with Shell but, as Ardella Jones 

discovers, this did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for prestige cars... 

finally came through," says Tony. He joined 

the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts' Club, which 

includes Bentley cars, and in 1996 became 

one of several Registrars, keeping track 

of over 1,000 vehicles, produced from 

1946 to 1955, around the world, and 

helping owners to access specialist 

knowledge and spare parts. 

Tony has helped organise some fantastic 

events, including the annual President's 

Picnic at Blenheim Palace which attracts as 

many as 300 Rolls Royces and Bentleys. 

"One of the most memorable was in 2004 

when the Royal Logistics Corps Museum at 

Deepcut loaned us General Montgomery's 

beautiful 1936 Phantom III," says Tony. 

"Monty used the vehicle as his battlefield 

staff car. He had a Silver Wraith, too." 

Tony also met HRH Idris Shah, Sultan of 

Perak in Malaysia, who brought his 1953 

Silver Wraith, bodied by H.J. Mulliner and 

lovingly restored by P & A Wood in Essex. 

Boats are also an interest for Tony who 

started cruising the Thames as a member 

of Lensbury Motor Cruiser Club whilst still 

with Shell. In his 13 years of river cruising, 

Tony had many adventures, including taking 

a single engine Seamaster 813 on the 

Admiral's Cruise from Teddington Lock, 

past the Port of London and Thames barrier, 

to join the Medway at Rochester, to mark 

Henry VIII's reign. "There was a strong 

incoming tide as we neared the meeting of 

the rivers," Tony explains, "and our little 

Blenheim Palace 2004: HRH Sultan Idris Shah presents flowers 

to the driver and wife of Monty's wartime 1936 Phantom III 

Gen. Montgomery with his Silver Wraith 

two litre diesel engine was struggling so 

we had to get towed by a more powerful 

boat." No wonder Tony preferred to stick 

to the upper reaches of the Thames nearer 

to his home in Oxford. 

Tony has also found time to run a successful 

three-acre plants nursery in Oxfordshire 

from 1990 until retirement proper in 2006, 

as well as doing voluntary work for several 

Christian organisations. Currently, he is the 

long-serving treasurer of his village chapel 

and Methodist Circuit Administrator. He is 

understandably proud of his three offspring: 

a Thames Valley policeman, a chef, and a 

school teacher married to a Dutch Professor 

of Astrophysics who is now Director of 

Jodrell Bank. Their jobs may seem varied 

but Dad Tony obviously set the standard 

with his own career, which he sums up 

succinctly as, "From atoms to oil to the soil!". 



ThE DEviL'S iN ThE DETAiL 

Tommy Thomson, ex- 

Shell driver, combines the 

practical and the artistic 

in his hobby: painting 

vintage cars, lorries and 

tankers... Ardella Jones 

catches up with him 

As a schoolboy, Tommy Thomson liked to 

watch the big lorries thundering along the 

A73 North Road near his home in New 

Mains outside Glasgow. In the summer, 

he would note down the registrations and 

models, and sketch the huge vehicles in 

notebooks his grandma bought for him; 

during the harsh Scottish winters, he would 

colour in his drawings. He won first prize 

for art every year at school but when he 

left, he became a motor mechanic rather 

than an artist. 

At 17, Tommy passed his driving test first 

time and his dad bought him a sporty little 

1949 MG TC Midget in order to stop him 

riding a motorbike. However, Dad was 

unable to stop Tommy flirting with danger 

one way or another and the MG got him 

hooked on motor-racing. Tommy graduated 

to an E-type Jaguar and soon held the lap 

record at Inglestone, the local circuit. 

'I got it all wrong at first... 

I wanted to learn to mix 

colours properly' 

When Tommy married in 1974, his wife 

Nancy, who was soon expecting their 

daughter, wanted him to take up a less 

dangerous pastime than racing so Tommy 

bought a vintage lorry and started restoring 

it. By the 1990s, he had eight lorries in 

various stages of restoration, and two 

platform A frame drawbar trailers which fit 

on the back of the lorry like a flatbed with 


1500cc 

a turntable. Unfortunately, the firm that 

rented him storage premises went into 

receivership and he had to sell the lot. 

Tommy exhibited his vintage vehicles at 

shows and rallies and remembers vividly 

taking part in the North of England Run. 

"We'd had a battery problem on the way 

down from Scotland and did a makeshift 

repair," Tommy explains. "But overnight the 

acid leaked and ate into the metal. As the 

local mayor raised the flag to begin the 

rally, the battery, which was in a box on 

the side of the chassis, exploded. Bits flew 

everywhere! To get it started again, we had 

to use an old-fashioned starting handle 

turned by pulling a rope. I asked the mayor 

to help us pull but he declined. Luckily, an 

American film crew from The Teamsters' 

Union were there and got stuck in. The 

Americans had never seen anything like 

these old style models." 

Tommy continued to indulge his love of motor 

cars and restoration. When he was 65, he 

began building his last car – a one-off 

special: "It had been a 1932 Riley Monaco 

9 saloon," says Tommy, "but I fitted an alloy 

body, added a bigger 2.5 litre engine, a 

3.5 diff and new wheels." Mrs Thomson was 

Box Truck Steel Race Car 

not entirely happy with the Riley, which 

attracted the competitive attention of boy 

racers. "I was faster than them," says Tommy 

with some satisfaction, "and the wife knew 

I couldn't resist a challenge. She thought the 

Riley was beautiful but dangerous, and she 

kept waiting for the police to tell her they'd 

found me upside down, crashed in a park!" 

Ironically, it was an accident on a quiet road 

one summer's day caused by another driver, 

which ended Tommy's career with Shell. "I 

was paralysed down one side for 18 

months," says Tommy, "and Shell gave me 

medical retirement in 2002." He also had 

to give up his International Racing Licence 

and sell his beloved car when heart surgery 

eventually clipped his wings. 

Mrs Thomson can't get away from her 

husband's obsession with motor vehicles, 

however, as her living room is adorned with 

portraits of lorries. "She likes them," Tommy 

assures me. “There's one of am Armstrong 

Saurer, a Swiss-made lorry from around 

1934 which had an air brake system ahead 

of its time. Then there's a painting of an eight 

wheel 1948 Atkinson with a drawbar trailer 

and one of an early 1950s six-wheeler 

Leyland Comet, the official lorry of the 

United Africa

Claret Race Car 

Scottish haulier, Charles Alexander. It was 

used for transporting fish from Aberdeen to 

Liverpool and Manchester, and I managed 

to buy it from a scrap yard for only £10." 

Tommy's love of art has gone hand-in-hand 

with his career as a driver and in 1960, 

when he started working for McKay & Jardin 

delivering Shell products, he bought a box 

of watercolours for about £3, determined to 

teach himself to paint. "I got it all wrong at 

first," says Tommy modestly, "I wanted to 

learn to mix colours properly and use white 

for reflections, to paint for effect. I enjoyed 

painting big vehicles, tankers, buses, planes. 

I loved the engineering designs and the 

mechanical details." 

When Tommy joined Shell at the Bishopbriggs 

Oil Depot outside Glasgow in 1970 his 

hobby came in handy for staff leaving dos 

when he would draw caricatures of 

colleagues. "When the boss, Edgar, left I 

painted him as Atlas holding up a big shell 

with Bishopbriggs on it." Tommy put his talent 

to more mischievous ends when a co-worker 

skidded on ice and crashed into a bakery 

van. "I did a cartoon of the accident for the 

lads," chuckles Tommy, recalling the times 

when Health & Safety wasn't quite such a 

White Line Truck 

Hunter 

serious matter as it is today: "After that I did 

a caricature of anyone who had a crash. 

We called it the Kamikaze Club." 

Tommy has sold a few of his extremely 

detailed paintings, "but I'll deny it if the 

taxman asks," he jokes. He has also given 

them as mementos to friends, like Gus Davis 

with whom Tommy shared a lorry at 

Bishopbriggs. Tommy would drive on the 

Jaguar Reids Transport 


by Ardella Jones 

day shift and Gus at night or vice versa. 

Tommy has celebrated their friendship by 

painting a 12" x 22" picture of Gus driving 

the lorry – an ERF Artic with a Cummings 

engine and 3-axle trailer, one of only three 

owned by Shell around 1970. Gus is 

depicted on the road from the Aluminium 

Corporation smelting plant at Kinlochleven 

but he denies that it's him. "He swears it 

can't be him because he never drove that 

fast," laughs Tommy. 

Tommy has even exhibited his paintings at 

the local art school, where he attended 

classes for six months. "I didn't learn anything 

new," he says, "but I kept going to get my 

money's worth: I am Scottish after all!" 

Tommy's skill and incredible eye for detail 

speak for themselves and, at 74, he’s still 

producing numerous paintings for other 

enthusiasts. He may have had to stop racing, 

driving and all the hard, heavy work required 

in the restoration of vintage vehicles but it 

will be a very long time before Tommy 

Thomson puts down his paintbrush. 


GOING GLOBAL 

big hiTTERS FUNDRAiSiNg FOR ARChiE! 

Shell UK played host to an Indoor sevena-side 

Cricket Tournament on Saturday 8 

September 2012 that aimed to raise funds 

for The Archie Foundation based at the 

Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital to 

raise money for sick children and their 

families in the North of Scotland. 


The event – which was co-sponsored by 

other major energy companies, 

including BP and Centrica–was held at 

Shell’s recreational centre in Aberdeen, 

Woodbank. 

For the last two years, similar events have 

raised more than £24,000 for the 

Pakistan floods appeal and for the East 

Africa Drought Appeal. This time Shell 

UK committed to match funds raised up 

to £5,000. A wealth of spectacular 

cricket-related prizes that were generously 

donated are expected to help break last 

year’s fundraising total. 

Raffle Prizes included: 

bACK ON ThE ROAD 

make a date for 9 October 

• A framed and signed cricket shirt from 

the famous 2005 Ashes-winning 

England Cricket Team (2005 South 

Africa Tour) donated by The Professional 

Cricketers’ Association (PCA). 

• A signed cricket shirt from the Scotland 

Cricket Team donated by Cricket Scotland. 

• A signed cap and ball donated by a 

member of the Pakistan Cricket Team. 

Following our first successful roadshow, you and a guest are invited to the second 

one at Bristol Golf Club, 9 October, 2-4pm. Come along and see what Graham 

van’t Hoff has to say about developments in Shell and listen to Ian Chisholm’s 

update on the pension fund. These short videos will be playing on a loop, so you 

can watch them at your leisure while you enjoy tea and cakes. There will be 

plenty of stallholders on hand: 

• Meet your PLR. Do you have any questions? 

• Do you understand your Shell pension and benefits? 

• Do you need to know about state benefits and allowances? 

• Do you need help with where to invest? 

• Have you got the right sort of insurance? 

• Are you fit? Do you need advice on diet and lifestyle? 

• Would you like to sign up to the SPA Facebook page, but don’t know how? 

• Have you got something you would like to appear in SPANews? 

There will be representatives from: 

NHS • SPBA • PLRs • SPA Committee • Communications 

Pensions Administration • Age UK 

Sutton Winson Insurance • Affinity Connect 

The PCA also sent this message of 

support to the event: "The PCA is 

delighted to support this tournament, and 

the efforts to raise money for such an 

important cause. On behalf of the three 

England captains, Andrew Strauss (now 

ex! Ed), Alistair Cook and Stuart Broad, 

we wish you all the best for an enjoyable 

and successful event." 

In addition Cricket Scotland also fielded 

a member of their team to attend the 

tournament on Saturday. Also attending 

was a member of the Archie Foundation 

team who gave a presentation on how 

the money raised will be making a huge 

difference to the lives of sick children 

and their families. 

At the close of the tournament, prize 

giving was carried out by members of 

the Scotland Cricket Team, and senior 

representatives from The Archie 

Foundation and from Shell UK. 

Bristol Golf Club, conveniently located 

just off J17 of the M5, has lovely views 

across the Severn Estuary, in tranquil 

surroundings. All the stalls and video 

are on the ground floor. 

The event is free, but please let us 

know if you plan to attend. Contact 

SPA secretariat. 

The Bristol Golf Club, St. Swithins 

Park, Blackhorse Hill Almondsbury, 

Bristol BS10 7TP, Tel: 01454 620000 

Look out for roadshows in other 

regions, early in 2013.

Wendy Garbutt “I was proud and inspired 

that London won the bid to stage the 2012 

Olympics. I applied online to be a volunteer 

in 2011, had an interview at the O2 arena 

in May, and was offered a position in 

October. Pre-training was extensive and 

well organised, starting with two gatherings 

of all volunteers at Wembley Arena, giving 

us an insight into how many crucial roles 

would be taken up by a volunteer workforce, 

alongside paid workers such as caterers, 

security and the media. 

“My role was Workforce Operations, where 

my HR background came in useful in 

dealing with a diverse number of queries 

and issues such as cultural and disability 

awareness, Code of Conduct and so on, 

and I met fellow team members with a 

similar background. I was constantly 

surprised and impressed by how many 

different roles were necessary to get the 

show off the ground. 

“Further training at Hackney College and 

venue-specific training at the Olympic Park 

made us all want the Games to get going. 

My shift teams were made up of interesting 

people from Russia, China, New York, 

Ireland and all over the UK. I was lucky to 

see hockey, basketball and water polo 

events over the two weeks. To see the best 

athletes striving for a medal was awesome, 

but I also enjoyed meeting the ticket holders, 

parents with young children, all having such 

a good time and hopefully being inspired 

to participate in sport themselves. 

“I have many memories of London 

2012, not least the roar coming from 

the Olympic stadium when Mo Farah 

had just won gold!” 

David Wood “It was a privilege and a 

pleasure to be an Olympic volunteer Games 

Maker – a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

250,000 hopefuls applied in September 

2010; I had my interview in March 2012 

and learnt that I was one of the 70,000 

successful applicants. I was allocated to the 

Events Services team – often referred to as 

the ‘Face of the Games’, since our principle 

role was to meet, greet and help the 

spectators. I was allocated to the Olympic 

Stadium where I attended eight shifts: six 

morning sessions of athletics, plus the 

Opening and Closing Ceremonies. 

“My abiding memories include: 

• Being both moved and entertained by 

the Opening Ceremony, and watching 

in wonder as one of the Olympic rings 

was forged before being raised to join 

four others high above our heads. 

• Standing outside the Stadium on the 

banks of the river when the boat carrying 

David Beckham and the Olympic flame 

unexpectedly emerged from the gloom. 

• Marvelling at the engineering ingenuity 

and iconic design of the Olympic 

cauldron as it was assembled, ignited 

and transformed. 

• Setting out at 5am from a temporary 

caravan site north of Hackney Marshes 

on a 45-minute walk to start my shift. 

Passing hundreds of other volunteers and 

workers who were preparing the Park for 

the arrival of up to 250,000 spectators. 

• Watching the excitement of adults and 

children alike as they climbed the steps 

to see inside the Stadium for the first time. 

• Talking to spectators as they left and 

hearing of their unqualified enjoyment 

of the occasion and their marvel at the 

performance of the athletes. 

• On Super Saturday, spotting a young 

father trying to control his hysterical 

8-year-old (who was sensitive to crowds 

and noise); putting them in touch with 

the mobility team who were able to relocate 

the whole family to a quieter part 

of the Stadium. Feeling a rush of emotion 

when the father later sought me out, 

shook my hand and thanked me. 

• Checking Sally Gunnell’s accreditation 

when she came into the Stadium with 

her family. (Missing Condoleezza Rice 

when she entered because I was facing 

the wrong way!) 

It was the greatest GB holiday of my lifetime 

– with everyone in the country sharing the 

fun as one family!” 

Paddy Briggs was one of eight volunteers 

assigned to help the Dutch National 

Olympic Committee and Athletes. 

Paddy and Dutch Olympic 

gold medallist in windsufing 

GOING GLOBAL 

GAMES MAKERS – THE TRuE SPIRIT OF THE OLYMPIcS 

Many SPA members volunteered as games Makers at the 

spectacular London 2012; here’s some inside stories … 

Games Maker Wendy 

David 'on duty' 

David gets ringside view of opening ceremony 



Ah! bOmbAy 

Colin Morsley recalls life in India in the early 1970s, including ingenious in-house 

recycling, 36-hour shifts and three-day biryanis … 

Taj Mahal 

I had been working at the Stanlow 

Refinery for nearly three years, since 

graduation, when in 1972 I was offered 

a two-year assignment to Burmah-Shell 

Refineries in Bombay. My mother was 

born in Calcutta (as it then was) and had 

lived briefly in Bombay in the late 1920s, 

so there was a tenuous family connection. 

As Burmah-Shell in India was almost fully 

‘Indianised’ it wouldn’t be the usual 

‘expat experience’ and, professionally, 

would be quite a challenge, I thought. 

The Burmah-Shell Oil Storage and 

Distribution Company had been 

operating in India since before World 

War I. After the Second World War and 

Indian independence, the need for India 

to have its own refining capacity was 

recognised and several major oil 

companies signed refining agreements 

with the Indian government. 

Burmah-Shell Refineries was set up as a 

rupee subsidiary, and then started 

operations in 1955 in Trombay, about 

15 miles from the centre of Bombay, and 

next door to an Esso plant. It was one 

of a series of similar refineries built by 

Shell during that period, and the 

company had a long-term crude supply 

agreement to provide light Iranian crude 

to the refinery. 

By the time I arrived as a young engineer 


in September 1972, I was the only expat 

in the refinery apart from the MD. Many 

of my Indian colleagues had been 

recruited before start-up and had trained 

in the UK and Dutch refineries. Not 

‘we began to appreciate 

the huge diversity of 

Indian culture and cuisine’ 

surprisingly, Shell had recruited some of 

the best engineers from across the 

diverse Indian nation and they developed 

considerable knowledge of the plant and 

its operating history. Most of the refinery 

equipment was, naturally, British, Dutch 

or US in origin; however, among other 

Bombay street 

achievements, the refinery had been 

ingeniously ‘debottlenecked’ and a 

bottling system for domestic gas was 

designed and built locally. 

By 1972 the business was being severely 

challenged by a pincer movement of 

rising crude prices (a harbinger of the 

first oil shock) and the negative attitude 

of the government (led by Mrs Indira 

Ghandi) to foreign-owned businesses. 

The government took the view that it was 

paying too much for crude, and limited 

the amount of foreign exchange 

proportionately. Thus we processed 

progressively less crude as the months 

went by, operating well below capacity. 

There was also a rigid licensing system 

for importing spare parts, which was 

partly counteracted by an impressive 

‘indigenous development’ programme 

of locally-manufactured spares, which 

used in-house engineering expertise to 

coach local suppliers. All sorts of 

techniques were used to recover and 

reuse parts as much as possible, and as 

I was working in refinery maintenance, 

this made life extremely interesting. 

Having negotiated an inter-government 

deal with Iran for crude (at a higher price 

than Shell was paying!), the Indian 

government subsequently found that the 

state-owned Indianoil refineries, largely 

based on Russian technology, were 

unable to cope and so asked Burmah- 

Shell and the other foreign companies 

to process some of their crude. This 

meant a switch from barely ticking over 

to running flat-out for extended periods

Bombay street 

– even more interesting! The worldwide 

crude shortages caused by the Yom 

Kippur War only increased the pressure. 

We arrived in Bombay only a few months 

after the end of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan 

war and at the tail-end of a poor monsoon. 

This had serious implications for the city, 

which received a large proportion of its 

electricity from hydro-electric schemes. As 

time wore on we suffered restrictions on 

the use of air-conditioning, and poor 

harvests due to the inadequate monsoon 

rains meant rising food prices, leading to 

labour unrest and several general strikes 

or “bandhs”. These were usually one-day 

affairs but meant that we had to stay in 

the plant for 36 hours at a time to maintain 

operations. I usually volunteered for the 

night shifts, which were very pleasant. 

We had an occasional requirement for 

diving operations when repairs were 

needed to our big salt water intake 

pumps, and developed a good 

relationship with frogmen from the Indian 

Navy who, not long before, had been 

in action in Karachi harbour. After a few 

successful diving operations at the 

refinery, the company donated a 

television to their mess – a huge luxury, 

as TV had only just started in India. We 

formally presented this to them on board 

their vessel in Bombay naval dockyard 

and had the opportunity to take a look 

at the navy’s latest ship – a locally-built 

licensed copy of a British “Leander” class 

frigate. Of even more interest sitting out 

in the harbour was the light cruiser INS 

Delhi – formerly HMNZS Achilles of 

‘Battle of the River Plate’ fame. 

My wife Nancy and I had a spacious 

flat in the senior staff colony near the 

refinery, which eventually (after some 

nagging of Camp Services) became 

quite smart and comfortable. Our 

neighbours were a wonderfully diverse 

group of Indian families from all parts 

of the country and of every religion. Most 

were very sociable and we began to 

appreciate the huge diversity of Indian 

culture and cuisine. Nancy was in 

demand to teach the basics of English 

cookery – especially roast dinners – 

which became a regular midweek 

cookery class. This eventually developed 

into a series of weekend lunch parties 

featuring delicious cuisine from the 

various regions of India. One particularly 

gorgeous biryani required the 

preparation to start on Thursday evening 

to be ready for lunch on Sunday! 

Everyone naturally recommended that 

we should visit their home region. With 

only two weeks’ local leave in our twoyear 

contract this was going to be a tall 

order. However, with the amount of 

overtime we worked during major 

shutdowns, my very understanding boss 

let us take more leave than was due. 

Our leaves usually coincided with one 

or other element of the transport system 

going on strike, which didn’t help with 

planning; however, we managed a big 

circuit of the South, including Bangalore, 

Mysore, Madras (now Chennai), and 

Kerala. In the latter, we stayed in Cochin 

and had an overnight visit to a tea 

plantation whose generator was 

powered by an old Crossley gas engine 

Water Taxi 


– probably installed by my grandfather! 

Later on, we spent a week in Kashmir 

living on a houseboat on the Dal Lake 

in Srinagar, and towards the end of our 

stay spent a few days in Delhi, from 

where we visited Agra, including a visit 

to the Taj Mahal. 

By the time we left Bombay in September 

1974, India was in deep economic 

trouble. A few months later, the foreign 

oil companies were nationalised and 

Burmah-Shell became Bharat Petroleum. 

Mrs Gandhi declared a state of 

emergency, which stabilised the 

economy but at great cost to individual 

freedom, especially for the working 

classes. We always believed that 

economic liberalisation and investment 

would enable India to move forward 

rapidly, and although it has taken so 

long, it’s great to see the progress now 

being made. 


FINANcE 

ShELL SmARTER 

DRiviNg TOP TiPS 

Shell has demonstrated that British motorists could 

save up to £500 annually on fuel by adopting their 

smarter driving tips. 


Roof rack? No. 

Putting your roof rack on only when you 

need it could save you up to 5% more fuel. 

Check fuel cap 

Simply make sure your cap is properly 

screwed on after every fill up. This 

prevents fuel from evaporating. 

Avoid excess weight 

For every extra 100 lbs (45kg) you 

carry in your car, your fuel efficiency 

can drop by 1-2%. 

Plan your trips 

Combining trips – like popping to the shops 

and family taxi duty – is the easiest way to 

conserve fuel. 

Avoid rush hour 

It's probably the most frustrating time to 

drive but avoiding rush hour also means 

you'll spend less time stuck in traffic, 

burning fuel. 

Use cruise control 

Using cruise control on main roads helps 

you maintain a constant speed, making 

every drop count. 

Use correct oil 

Using your car manufacturer's recommended 

motor oil can improve fuel economy by 1-2%. 

maintain speed 

When you hit a downward slope, 

maintain steady engine revs. You'll still 

have good momentum if you've then got 

a hill to climb. 

Keep hydrated 

Drinking water and ensuring you are well 

hydrated helps you concentrate better. 

When you are focused, you tend to drive 

more efficiently. 

Service your engine 

A dirty engine increases fuel consumption. 

Start by changing worn out spark plugs 

and reduce consumption by up to 5%. 

Tyre pressure 

If your tyres are under inflated by just 1psi 

(pound per square inch), fuel efficiency can 

be reduced by up to 3%. So check tyres 

once a week or whenever you fill up. 

Drive smoothly 

Don't drive aggressively – you'll burn up 

to a third more fuel than driving smoothly. 

Try not to brake or accelerate too hard and 

keep your steering as even as possible. 

minimal air-con 

Avoid using air conditioning on hot or cold 

days. It puts added strain on your engine, 

increasing fuel consumption by up to 8%. 

Try using your car's internal ventilation 

system instead. 

Use higher gears 

Driving slowly in a higher gear burns less 

fuel. It's best to change up a gear whenever 

you can. 

Avoid high speeds 

The faster you go, the more wind resistance 

you encounter. This forces your car to 

consume more fuel just to maintain speed. 

As little as 5mph (12kmph) can affect fuel 

economy by up to 23%. 

Avoid excess idling 

Idling gets you nowhere, but still burns 

fuel. If you are in a queue for around 10 

seconds or more, turn your engine off until 

you need it. 

Avoid over-revving 

Sending your rev counter into the red isn't 

good. So change gear in good time when 

you pull away or when accelerating. 

Keep windows closed 

Driving with your window open slows you 

down. This usually makes you put your foot 

down harder, using more fuel. Instead, use 

your car's internal ventilation system (not 

air conditioning). 

Check air filters 

Car engines are tough but they still need 

protection from impurities to work efficiently. 

Replacing a clogged air filter can improve 

fuel economy by up to 10%.

DEEP SLEEP DEEEP SLEEEP DEEEEP SLEEEEP … 

It’s not unusual to have trouble sleeping as 

we get older because sleeping patterns 

naturally change. This means that many of 

us struggle to get to sleep or stay asleep. 

This takes its toll because, contrary to 

common belief, we still need the same 

amount of sleep as we did when we were 

younger, according to the London Sleep 

Centre. They advise: “If you tend to wake 

up in the night or very early in the 

morning, light exposure will cause a shift 

in your body clock, so you'll need to make 

some changes to your routine in order to 

break the cycle and get a good night’s 

sleep. In particular, try to keep regular 

habits and routines. Keep regular 

bedtimes, avoid ‘lying in’ and, if you 

enjoy a daytime nap, schedule this for 

roughly the same time each day.” 

Most of us have trouble sleeping from time 

to time, especially if we're feeling stressed 

or anxious. Professor Kevin Morgan, 

Director of the Clinical Sleep Research Unit 

at Loughborough University, says: “If you 

wake up feeling reasonably refreshed, 

generally function properly during the day 

and feel sleepy around bedtime, then you're 

probably getting enough sleep.” 

However, if you frequently feel tired 

throughout the day, lack of sleep could 

be a problem. The main symptoms of 

insomnia are: 

• Difficulty falling asleep 

• Waking up in the night 

• Waking up early in the morning 

• Feeling tired, irritable and having 

trouble concentrating during the day 

Insomnia is more common in women than 

men, and also tends to increase with age. 

It can also be triggered by a stressful event, 

health problems and medication, including 

beta-blockers and HRT. While the occasional 

bad night’s sleep is unlikely to affect you 

too much, insomnia can have a huge impact 

on your daily life. 

“You know that insomnia has become a 

problem when your day is affected,” 

explains Professor Williams. “Lack of sleep 

is associated with poor performance at 

work and it can affect your mood, causing 

problems within your relationships. Poor 

sleep can also affect your appetite, making 

you more likely to crave unhealthy foods 

and gain weight.” 

Studies show that people with insomnia are 

more likely to suffer from anxiety and 

depression, heart failure and diabetes. 

Sleep deprivation can also lead to accidents 

and injuries and can affect memory, 

because sleep cycles give your brain a 

chance to consolidate memories. 

Sleeping tips 

Experts suggest getting into good habits, 

such as: 

• Going to bed and getting up at the 

same time every day 

• Establishing a bedtime routine 

• Making sure that your bed and bedding 

are comfortable 

• Avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol 

in the evening 

• Not eating a heavy meal late at night 

• Avoiding exercise in the evening 

• Cutting out daytime naps 

• Keeping your bedroom cool and dark 

• Do not have TV and computers in the 

bedroom 

If you tend to wake up in the night and 

struggle to get back to sleep, get up and 

HEALTH 

go into another room. Avoid doing 

anything too involved, such as work or 

housework, and resist the temptation to 

turn on the television. 

Instead, try reading, listening to the radio 

or having a warm bath. Try going back to 

bed 20-30 minutes later and, if you still 

have chronic difficulties in getting to sleep 

or staying asleep – which lead to daytime 

fatigue – do the same thing again. 

Where to get help 

If you’ve only recently started having trouble 

sleeping, there’s no harm in asking your 

pharmacist for advice. “Over-the-counter 

remedies can be useful, provided they aren’t 

used on a regular basis,” says Professor 

Williams. But if your sleeping problems last 

for more than a month and none of the 

self-help measures seem to help, it’s a good 

idea to see your GP. 

This advice was sourced from Age UK and 

the London Sleep Centre. 

APOLOgiES 

The ‘Preparing for an Operation’ 

article in the summer issue wrongly 

attributed the author as Margaret 

Waddell. It was, in fact, Julie 

Thompson, HMCA Medical Insurance, 

who provided the useful information. 


MEET THE BRANcHES 

Scotland branch 

With just under 900 members, including 

partners, Scotland has by far the biggest 

branch. Many members worked in Expro, 

while some are ex-Fleet. Chairman Sandy 

Bowman joined the committee four years 

ago. Prior to retirement he spent seven years 

chairman, Sandy Bowman 

Northern ireland branch 

Northern Ireland branch is the youngest of 

all the branches. It was formed in June of 

2009, thanks to some sterling initial work 

by Eleanor Brennan early in 2009, who 

managed to instil a need among the SPA 

members. Subsequently, Helen Page came 

over for an inaugural branch meeting and 

assisted the SPA members who turned out 

to set up a committee. 

The present committee comprises: 

John melville – Chairman. Ex Shell 

Tankers; ex QGPC; Ex PDO and Ex Shell 

Expro, Aberdeen. He is just about Ex’d out 

but keeps on going. 

Alma Atkins – Secretary. Starting off with 

Shell Mex & BP at the Belfast terminal, Alma 

went through several morphs, ending up in 

Shell Mex House in London as Commercial 

Dept. Team Lead. 

Capt. malcolm Cowton – Treasurer 


in Nigeria, providing support for floating 

production, storage, and offtake (FPSO) 

units. Brian Welch, another ex-Nigeria man, 

is the newest recruit to the committee. Others 

include Colin Ferrier and Eleanor Brennan 

(also a national committee member), and 

Tricia Hunter the Treasurer. 

Their most successful event is the annual 

summer barbecue at Woodbank, which is 

always a sell-out. The venue is also popular 

for the New Year Sunday lunch. Because 

of the size of the branch and the diversity 

of its members, interest in other events is 

variable. There is a keen walking group; 

this is not part of the branch per se, but 

joins with other groups. 

Twenty-eight members recently renewed 

their first aid certificate, receiving training 

(where’s the receipt?!) A late-comer to Shell 

Tankers, having spent his formative 

seagoing time with The Haine Steamship 

Co, Malcolm is involved in all things Marine 

from the local Seaman’s Mission to the Shell 

Fleet reunions. 

John young – Committee Member and 

also our PLR. John goes back to the dark 

and distant past days of Shell Mex & BP. 

bobby brown – Committee Member. 

Bobby has been a sterling member of the 

committee since start-up. 

Alan murphy – Committee Member - the 

new boy on the block. 

We have around 140 SPA members in 

Northern Ireland with some 50 of those 

who are also NISPA members. This, of 

course, does not include their spouses. We 

charge for NISPA membership (now down 

to £5) to cover postage and production of 

Giant's causeway 

from mountain rescue on CPR (cardiopulmonary 

resuscitation) and survival 

techniques when out and about on the hills. 

This is probably reassuring to the walking 

group! 

Other unusual social events included a visit 

to a police station to see how staff and cars 

are controlled, and a trip to the 

meteorological office. Future trips include 

a visit to a garden centre to understand the 

mysteries of autumn pruning and a tour 

around Grampian Fire Service HQ. 

Sandy explained that the biggest change 

over the last few years is the number of 

members now on email – almost 80%, 

which cuts down the cost of paperwork, 

and has allowed them to keep the 

subscription at just £5 for two years. 

Top: Malcolm, John M, Bobby; Bottom: Alan, 

Alma, John Y 

newsletters, flyers etc. We would love to 

charge zero but there are only 15 members 

who have access to email or other ‘free’ 

communication methods. 

Our activities are varied but usually have 

some local interest. We visited the site of 

the Battle of the Boyne and had a tour of 

Shanes Castle, and have recently had a 

trip to the Bushmills Distillery, the oldest 

licensed whiskey in the world. While we 

were in the area a visit to the Giants 

Causeway seemed a good idea, too. 

We’re always on the look out for new 

venues to visit and maintain an interest for 

our fellow pensioners. It is particularly 

difficult getting something to suit everyone. 

Outings usually involve 25-30 people, and 

our Annual dinner attracts around 50 – not 

too bad when you consider a NISPA 

membership of 50!

cONGRATuLATIONS – MEMBERS’ ANNIVERSARIES 

Blue Sapphire (65 years) 

Jean & Geoffrey golding of Corringham, Essex – 28 June. Geoffrey was a Planning 

Supervisor at Shell Haven Refinery. 

Ruth & Rab Suttill of Guildford, Surrey – 25 July. Rab retired from Shell Exploration 

& Production in 1974. 

Jean & Geoffrey Golding 

Diamond (60 Years) 

Irene & Walter James of Higher 

Bebington, 26 July. Walter worked at 

Stanlow in Operations for 31 years. 

Barbara & Reg Roberts of Dunfermline 

– 19 July. Reg worked for Shell 

International prior to retirement. 

Iris & Roland harriott of Rochester – 21 

June. Roland worked in Shell Tankers UK 

for 31 years and was a former PLR. 

Irene & Walter James 

Terry & Douglas Sorensen of 

Sanderstead – 9 August. Douglas worked 

at Shell Mex House. 

Dorothy & George haddock of Ellesmere 

Port – 14 June. They first met in 

Woolworths – a week later she was asked 

for a dance at the Mersey Iron Works 

Club and the rest is history. George 

worked in the Laboratory at Thornton 

Research Centre for 25 years. 

Dorothy & George Haddock 

Golden (50 Years) 

cONGRATuLATIONS 

Pat & Les Turner of Costa Blanca – 7 July. 

Les worked for Shell Expro for 31 years. 

Mary & Charlie Cater of Effingham, 

Surrey – 7 July. Charlie was a tanker 

driver at Wandsworth Terminal for 18 

years. 

Brenda & David Sullivan of Cheltenham 

– 14 July. Prior to retirement David 

worked at Gatwick Airport. 

100 yEARS OLD 

Pat & Les Turner 

Muriel Gater celebrated her 100th 

birthday on 16 June with afternoon 

tea with family and friends at a 

local hotel, her card from the Queen 

never far away. Her PLR, Janet 

Woollett, gave her a planted rose 

tree for her courtyard garden. 

Muriel lives alone in Tenderden, 

Kent; she is an adult dependent of 

her late brother, Vernon Maw, who 

worked in SIPC for 40 years. 


SHELL cENTRE 

ThE viSiON FOR ShELL CENTRE TAKES ShAPE 

The Shell Centre site is set to go through an 

exciting redevelopment project to improve 

the public, cultural and retail offering on 

the Southbank. 

Why redevelop? Shell Centre is 50 

years old and ways of working have 

changed dramatically; you only have to 

watch the You Tube video of Shell Centre 

life in the 60s (www.youtube.com/ 

watch?v=8zUQD1p9bXY ), to see long thin 

corridors, cellular offices and completely 

different technology from what we use 

today. Shell needs a modern open plan 

office environment to best support the 

business and no longer requires rifle ranges 

or hairdressing salons in the building! 

Following an extensive evaluation 

process, Shell has signed an agreement 

with Braeburn Estates to redevelop the 

Shell Centre site, excluding the Tower 

building, which has been refurbished in 

the last few years. 

Braeburn Estates is a joint venture between 

Qatari Diar and Canary Wharf Group – 

two world-class developers with a strong 

track record of delivering projects in London 

that help enhance and regenerate local 

areas. Their proposal replaces the outdated 


wing buildings with a mix of office, 

residential and retail buildings to deliver new 

interest and activity on this important site. 

Towards the end of last year 1,700 staff 

moved out of Shell Centre to Canary Wharf 

and The Strand to allow the redevelopment 

to begin. A massive recycling operation 

has been completed to empty the wings, 

which included moving 8,500 pieces of 

furniture, 2,100 keyboards, 1,670 monitors 

and 340 printers. Business critical IT routes 

and equipment, along with utilities, are 

being relocated to the Tower basement to 

ensure the Tower continues to operate 

before, during and after the redevelopment. 

Jubilee Gardens has been totally rebuilt 

and landscaped, part-funded by Shell, to 

a high standard with granite paving, an 

adventure playground, seating and colourful 

flower beds. 

Timescales Braeburn Estates has been 

consulting with the local community and 

key stakeholders to actively involve all 

interested parties in the initial ideas and 

planning process. It is anticipated that 

around the end of 2012 the detailed 

planning applications will be submitted, 

with permission granted late 2013 to 

mid 2014; shortly thereafter demolition 

and redevelopment will commence. The 

project is expected to complete sometime 

in 2017/18. 

What will it look like? As well as 

owning and occupying the Tower building, 

Shell has agreed to lease another 210,000 

sq. ft. of new office space on the site. This 

will allow the company to bring its entire 

London workforce of around 3,500 staff 

together on the Southbank. 

The new Shell office will be located on the 

south east corner of the site, facing York 

Road and Chicheley Street. The design will 

complement the portland stone of the Tower, 

and the building will step up from four floors 

on Chicheley Street to 10 floors, where 

new bridge links will connect it directly to 

the Tower. There will be several large roof 

gardens incorporated into the new office 

layout. The public realm will consist of 

covered walkways connecting the new 

building to the Tower. 

The remaining area on the site will provide 

a mix of offices, retail and restaurant outlets, 

a new public square and more than 650 

homes. The redeveloped site will be 

serviced from below ground where there 

will also be limited car parking and space 

for 1,000 bicycles. 

Just to the east of York Road new plans have 

also taken shape for the redevelopment of 

Elizabeth House (between Shell Centre and 

Waterloo station), which if approved later 

this year will also help to improve the area. 

This scheme by a different development 

group will provide two new public squares 

linking Waterloo Station to York Road. Plans 

for the Shell Centre site integrate fully with 

the Elizabeth House proposal and improve 

pedestrian links through the Shell Centre 

site to the South Bank and Jubilee Gardens. 

The ideas extend to providing improved 

pedestrian usage of Chichley Street and 

Belvedere Road through ‘shared surfaces’ 

along the lines of the highly acclaimed 

project in Exhibition Road. 

I am interested to see how the ideas 

progress and once built how much the 

homes sell for, but doubt I will be able to 

afford one of the new riverfront apartments. 

helen Page 

Change 

of PLR 

Viv Perry, Pensioner Liaison Representative 

for Cardiff & Swansea, has been replaced 

by Peter Rees. Peter started in distribution, 

before covering various field-based jobs, 

including commercial fuels, lubricants and 

retail sales, in both the company and dealerowned 

markets. Tel: 01792 362334

FORTHcOMINg REUNIONS 

Agrichemical golf: About 35 

pensioners compete each autumn. Contact 

David Young 01883 712578. 

Shell venezuela Reunion is held 

each year in London. It is open to all 

personnel and their families who served 

anywhere in the Caracas region, i.e. the 

whole of the Western Hemisphere, 

except North America, Argentina and 

Brazil. Next one, 9 May 2013, contact: 

andylcole@talktalk.net 

materials: October 4 2012 will be the 

last Materials reunion. The organisers 

are keen that, after 50 years, the event 

goes off with a bang at a Champagne 

reception and lunch. Contact Marion 

Walker: 020 8462 6780 

Shell mex and bP Computing 

Staff: September 29 2012, with an 

overnight stay at The Abbey Hotel, 

Redditch, for those who were involved 

in the SMBP Computing Service at Hemel 

Hempstead or Wythenshawe (Technical 

Staff or users of the LEO or UNIVAC 

Computer Services) 

Transport and Storage Division 

will be held in September 2012 in the 

Chester area. Contact Bob Worboys. 

Tel: 01244 383607, Email: 

bobworboys@talktalk.net 

Wandsworth Drivers from the 60s 

and 70s: the reunion will be 26 October. 

Contact Trevor Vickers: 020 8942 3532 

Ferranti Computers: David Powell- 

Evans worked for Shell in the late 1950s 

on the company's first computers, notably 

the Ferranti Mark1* in Holland and the 

Ferranti Mercury in Trent House, St. Mary 

Axe and would like to hold a reunion 

with ex-colleagues: 0208 946 1539 

dpe@blueyonder.co.uk 

SCUK/SiCC Chemicals Reunion Lunch 

will take place on Thursday 18 April 2013 

at Lensbury. Contact Jon Warnke on 

jgwarnke@aool.com or 01483 417387 

Shell Chemicals Seniors' golf Day 

will be 8 May 2013 in Sunningdale, 

Surrey. Contact Martin Edsall: mgedsall@ 

waitrose.com 

Far East: April 2013 at the Lensbury Club. 

Organiser, Don Cheshire: 01732 454454 

Shell Lubricants UK/Shell Oils UK, 

industrial markets: The third one will 

be on 15 April 2013, again, probably in 

the Worcester area. Contact Neil Bown: 

nimbo@btinternet.com or 01630 647129 

bridge Tournament: Shell hosts an 

annual world bridge tournament in 

November. If you are interested in 

REuNIONS 

fielding a seniors’ team contact John 

Cumming: 01372 815162, email: 

seajac@globalnet.co.uk 

marine will be held at Lensbury on 

Friday 19 October for retired staff of 

SIM, STASCo and STUK. Contact Rod 

Brown: Email rodney.g.brown@ 

btinternet.com, Tel 020 8642 9583 

Shell Expro Finance: Mike Mackie 

and Phil Turberville are planning another 

reunion for staff who worked in Finance 

in the 70s. The venue is likely to be 

Woodbank in October 2013. Contact 

mike@mackies.org.uk 

50th Anniversary of the brunei 

Rebellion: The Royal Marines Museum 

in Portsmouth will be holding a 

commemoration on 12 December 2012 

and are keen to hear from any Shell staff 

who were in Brunei in 1962. Contact 

Colonel Ian Moore, CBE: 

ianmelhummoore@blueyonder.co.uk 

SiTCO - iTP (1980s vintage!) 

Reunion: Amanda Hunt would like an 

ITP reunion for those working in those 

dim and distant days. She has signed 

up quite a few already. London, Friday 

26 October in the evening, venue tba. 

Contact: preferably email: bunkerhunt@ 

blueyonder.co.uk or 07595 170125. 

Lubricants Oil uK recent reunion 


TIME OuT 

LiFE ThROUgh A LENS: 

wIN £250 IN THIS YEAR’S PHOTO cOMPETITION 

Get out the camera and start snapping. 

We are pleased, once again, to run a 

photography competition, sponsored by 

Select Insurance Services (provided by 

Sutton Winson). The theme this year is: 

“Active Life in Retirement” suggested by 

Brian Hope, Scottish branch. 

You may submit up to two photos, in any 

format, by email or post, to reach the 

Secretary by 31 October. The entry that 

best reflects the title will be awarded a 

gift voucher for £250; two runners-up 

will each receive £150 and £50 

vouchers. The winning entry will not be 

judged purely on technical quality; 

capturing the spirit of the title is equally 

important, giving everyone a fair chance. 

Entries will be judged by Sutton Winson 

and the SPA National Committee. If 

sending hard-copy photos, please 

indicate if you require them to be 

returned. We will display the winning 

photos in a future issue of SPANews and 

on our Facebook page. 

Select Insurance Services provides high 

quality products backed by great 


Photo comp last winning entry. cream tea by Jeanette Jones 

customer service. Contact their team for 

a quote on 0800 783 3723 (0845 to 

1700, Mon to Fri) or visit www. 

suttonwinson.com/spa Home, Car, Travel 

and Pet insurance provided. 

Free tickets to ‘Seduced by Art: Photography 

Past and Present’ at The National Gallery 

As part of Shell’s corporate membership 

with the National Gallery, we are giving 

SPA members the opportunity to see 

‘Seduced by Art: Photography Past and 

Present’ for free. This groundbreaking 

show explores the relationship between 

historical painting, early photography of 

the mid-19th century, and some of the 

most exciting work being done by 

photographers today. Seduced by Art 

takes a provocative look at how 

photographers use fine art traditions, 

including Old Master paintings, to explore 

and justify the possibilities of their art. 

Far from being a general survey, the 

exhibition draws attention to one 

particular and rich strand of 

photography’s history, in major early 

works by the greatest British and French 

practitioners alongside photographs by 

an international array of contemporary 

artists. The show includes new 

photography and video specially 

commissioned for the exhibition and on 

public display for the first time, plus 

works rarely seen in the UK. 

The show includes almost 90 photographs 

alongside selected paintings from the 

National Gallery’s collection, and runs 

from November 2012 to 13 January 

2013. SPA members are eligible to apply 

for two tickets each; numbers are limited 

and will be allocated on a first come first 

serve basis. Please apply in writing or 

email to Helen Page. Successful applicants 

will be notified by the end of October. 

© X7796 Richard Learoyd Man with 

Octopus Tattoo II, 2011 Unique Ilfochrome 

photograph148.6 x 125.7cm © Richard 

Learoyd, courtesy McKee Gallery New YorK

ThE hyDRO hOTEL iN EASTbOURNE 

From its cliff top position above 

Eastbourne, the Hydro features 

uninterrupted views of the sea and the 

cliffs towards Beachy Head. There are 

83 ensuite bedrooms, two restaurants, 

multiple lounges, a cocktail bar, outdoor 

pool, hair salon, beauty room for spa 

treatments, and onsite car park. 

It’s a five-minute walk down to the 

beach, a 10-minute walk to Eastbourne 

town centre or 15-minute’s stroll to the 

base of the South Downs National Park. 

Local attractions include the Towner 

Gallery, Beachy Head and Seven 

Sisters, Michelam Priory, Glyndebourne, 

Pevensey Castle, and Charleston Manor 

as well as picturesque villages such as 

Alfriston and Firle. 

The hotel offers autumn and winter 

breaks that include 3-course dinner and 

DISNEY ON IcE – PASSPORT TO ADVENTURE 

Join Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse on a journey into the magical worlds of 

Disney’s The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Peter Pan and Lilo & Stitch. Discover Ariel 

and Sebastian’s enchanting undersea kingdom; visit the Pride Lands with Simba and 

Nala; soar through starry skies with Peter Pan and his sassy fairy friend Tinker Bell; 

and say “aloha” to fun with Lilo and Stitch. 

The production is touring: Glasgow: September/October; Newcastle and Manchester: 

October; Birmingham: October/November; Sheffield: November; and Wembley: 

December, January. 

DB Promotions are offering members 20% discount on weekday tickets. Weekend 

tickets are full-price but with a reduced booking fee. There are additional savings 

for groups of 15 or more, with the exception of Birmingham. 

For details and booking call 0121 308 4511 and quote “Shell” or via their website: 

www.dbpromotions.co.uk/partnerdiscounts-passporttoadventure.htm 

TIME OuT 

breakfast. October 2012 breaks from 

£67.50 per person per night, and 

winter breaks (1 November 2012 and 

28 February 28 2013) start from 

£57.50 per person. 

SPA member offer: Use the code 

SHELL10 to receive an additional 10% 

discount. Call 01323 720643 or book 

online at www.hydrohotel.com using 

your code. 


BRANcH cONTAcTS 


East Anglia - Suffolk Punch Trust 

Kent branch at Bletchley 

North London & Herts Olympic tour 

Northumberland & Durham, Black Sheep 

Brewery & Wensleydale cheese Factory 

ChEShiRE 

Doug Brice | Tel: 0151 200 1013 | Email: dbrice@ntlworld.com 

1st Tuesday of the month, Talks/presentations, Whitby Social Club 

ChiLTERNS & ThAmES vALLEy 

JudithTurner | Tel: 01895 637188 | Email: judith.turner@talk21.com 

6 Dec Christmas lunch, Sonning Golf Club 

CUmbRiA & LANCAShiRE 

Ken Lovell | Tel: 01900 823414 | Email: kennethlovell@btinternet.com 

27 Sep Carnforth Railway Station, lunch and guided tour 

17 Oct Theatre by the Lake Keswick, matinee performance followed by 

cream tea 

3 Dec Christmas lunch, Crooklands Hotel, Kendal 

DEvON & CORNWALL 

David Watters | Tel: 01803 856648 | Email: dgwatters@connectfree.co.uk 

4 Dec Christmas lunch, Moorland Garden Hotel in Yelverton 

EAST ANgLiA 

Sally Brown | Tel: 01502 585023 | Email: spbrown.gilpin@virgin.net 

19 Oct Lunch, Crown Inn, Westleton, Suffolk 

6 Dec AGM and Christmas Lunch, Park Farm Hotel, Hethersett 

ESSEx 

Iris Shaw | Tel: 01375 679908 | Email: irisshaw@tiscali.co.ukt 

4 Oct Denbies Winery and Brewery 

Guest speaker each month 

gREATER mANChESTER 

(details on branch website) 

Bryan Clarke | Tel: 0161 456 5083 | Email: groveblue@sky.com 

Branch website www.spa-manchester.org.uk 

Regular events: flat walking every 3rd Thurs, hill walking every 2nd Weds 

14 Oct Saltaire Village 

24 Nov Ulverston Christmas Market 

26-30 Nov Tinsel and Turkey Holiday, Northumberland 

Nov tba Ulverston Christmas Market 

3 Dec Christmas Lunch at Sale Conservative Club 

5 Jun 13 Weston Super Mare – holiday, bookings being taken 

iSLE OF mAN 

David Wilson | Tel: 01624 833510 | Email: dave-wilson@manx.net 

iSLE OF WighT 

Elaine Gourlay | Tel: 01983 209617 | Email: cdpryce@onwight.net 

19 Oct Lunch & talk by SPA representative, Boat House, Ryde 

16 Nov Lunch and AGM, Pointer Inn, Newchurch 

7 Dec Coffee Morning, Cowes 

KENT 

Elaine Egalton | Tel: 01795 520117 | Email: elaine@egalton.co.uk 

18 Oct Annual Lunch, Boughton Golf Club, near Favershamt 

ThE mARChES 

Gill Stovold | Tel: 01568 760241 | Email: gill.stovold@virgin.net 

17 Oct Lunch and AGM, Cadmore Lodge 

miDShiRES 

Alan Chandler | Tel: 0121 705 1648 | Email: alan.16@blueyonder.co.uk 

24 Oct AGM & lunch, The Terrace restaurant, Brownhills 

6 Dec Christmas Lunch, Henley Golf Club

NORTh LONDON & hERTS 

Robert Hillyard | Tel: 01707 654165 | Email: robert_hillyard@hotmail.com 

25 Oct Ramble and pub lunch 

28 Nov Lunch, The Cricketers, Clavering 

20 Mar Lunch & AGM, Brookman’s Park 

NORTh & miD hANTS 

Malcolm Wells | Tel: 01256 346743 | Email: malcolm.j.wells@btinternet.com 

24 Oct Lunch, Keats Restaurant, Ampfield, near Romsey 

20 Nov Lunch, George Hotel, Odiham 

11 Dec Christmas Lunch, North Hants Golf Club, Fleet 

NORThERN iRELAND 

Alma Atkins | Tel: 02890 839003 | Email: jim@atkins7883.fsnet.co.uk 

29 Nov Annual Dinner Dance, Corr's Corner Hotel, Newtownabbey 

NORThUmbERLAND & DURhAm 

Doug Renton | Tel: 0191 252 5331 | Email: douglas.renton1@virginmedia.com 

3 Oct Pub-lunch, Castle Eden Inn, near Hartlepool 

11 Dec Christmas lunch 

SCOTLAND 

June Wilson | Email: sspamembershipsec@gmail.com 

Branch website: www.sspasite.co.uk, webmaster: Colin Ferrier 

24 Oct Visit to Banchory Lodge 

1 Nov Management briefing, Woodbank 

9 Nov Quiz night, Woodbank 

SELKENT 

Sylvia Sellers | Tel: 01732 455523 | Email: sylvia.sellers1@btinternet.com 

2 Oct Lunch and Cameo Opera 

15 Nov Autumn Lunch, Bromley Court Hotel 

SEvERN & AvON 

Gerry Mapson | Tel: 01452 712084 | Email: camap.gb@blueyonder.co.uk 

18 Oct Bristol Golf Club talk, The Silk Road 

22 Nov Egypt Mill: Bill talk, the Invasion of Sicily 

SOUTh hANTS & DORSET 

Colin Lambert | Tel: 01202 749676 | Email: colin_lambert@sky.com 

5 Dec Christmas Lunch, Cumberland Hotel, Bournemouth 

SOUTh WALES 

Mavis Morgan | Tel: 01792 201276 | Email: mavis-morgan@o2 co.uk 

4 Dec Christmas lunch, Atlantic Hotel, Porthcawl 

EAST SURREy 

Denis Reed | Tel: 020 8942 2388 | Email: denis.reed@blueyonder.co.uk 

27 Sep & 3 Oct Royal Opera House & backstage tour 

6 Nov Autumn lunch, Reigate Manor 

WEST SURREy 

Margaret Parsons | Tel: 01483 811103 | Email: mike_margaretparsons@ 

btinternet.com 

4 Oct Rose Theatre, Kingston 

18 Oct Poppy Factory, Richmond 

23 Nov AGM & Autumn Lunch, Effingham Golf Club 

SUSSEx 

Clive Woollaston | Tel: 01424 437572 | Email: clivewoollaston@btinternet.com 

25 Oct AGM, Windsor Hotel, Worthing 

yORKShiRE 

Hanneke Wood | Tel: Contact SPA | Email: pandhwood@mac.com 

Jan tbc Christmas lunch, Churchill Hotel, York 

Feb Visit to Richmond, and Georgian theatre tour 

BRANcH cONTAcTS 

North and Mid Hants concorde 

experience Brooklands Museum 

North and Mid Hants lunch 

South Hants & Dorset 

Sussex - Highdown Gardens 


OBITuARIES 

We regret to report the death of the 

following members. We will include 

in this column the death of spouses 

of members; however, we are totally 

reliant on you advising us of such 

details. We are not notified of last work 

location of the deceased pensioner, but 

this can be included if we are informed 

via spouse, former colleagues etc. 

Alam, Muhammad Zafar (76) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd died 6 February 

Armitage, Mrs M (90) – widow of 

P.B. Armitage – Shell UK Oil Products 

Ltd died 7 May 

Atkinson, Gordon William (96) – 

Shell UK Oil Products died 31 May 

Atkinson, Mrs. Jean (82) wife of 

Kenneth – Shell UK Oil Stanlow died 

30 May 

Atkinson, Philip Michael (81) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd – Shell Centre 

dated 24 June 

babb, Miss Nesta R (63) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd died 18 June 

baillon, Austin Gabriel (92) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd died 23 May 

bashforth, Mrs Mary (97) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd died 8 April 

bearman, Mrs R.E. (91) widow of 

Eric – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

14 June 

beswick, Peter (84) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 16 June 

betteley, Robert K (83) – Shell UK Oil 

Products died 1 June 

bettell, Alan (77) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 17 March 

bevis, Brian Edward (73) – Shell UK 

Oil – Stanlow Lubs Centre died 17 June 

bowater, Benjamin M (81) – Shell UK 

Oil – Barton Lubricants died 17 May 

brazier, Mrs P.L (84) widow of A.J.C 

Brazier – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

2 June 

bremner, George (80) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 16 January 

brock, Mrs Caroline Jane (59) – Shell 

UK Oil – Aberdeen died 29 April 

bullough, Dr John Bruce Bomiley (65) 

– Enterprise Oil died 7 March 

bush, John B (74) – Shell UK Oil 

Products – Carrington died 26 May 


Cable, Mrs Pauline M (88) widow of 

John William – Shell UK Oil Products 

Ltd died 12 April 

Campbell, Howard Hindmarch (90) – 

SIPCo Ltd died 23 February 

Campbell, Barbara A (88) widow 

of Howard Hindmarch – SIPCo died 

1 April 

Cantwell, John W.L (83) – Shell UK 

Oil Products died 30 May 

Clark, Mrs Ruth (82) wife of Gordon – 

SI-Eastern died 25 June 

Clarke, Mrs C.M (84) widow of A. 

Clarke – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

27 March 

Colley, Mrs Doris (89) widow of 

Thomas Henry – Shell International Ltd 

died 16 April 

Conners, Leslie (84) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 9 July 

Cording, Donald Arthur (77) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd – Shell Centre died 

17 May 

Cowley, N (66) – Shell UK Oil – 

Wythenshawe died 4 August 

Davies, Ellis David (75) – Shell UK 

Oil Products – Stanlow Refinery died 

30 May 

Davies, Mrs D.J. (69) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 21 April 

Dennis, Thomas Ronald (88) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd died 8 June 

Diamond, Peter Forester (81) – Shell 


Dodwell, T.L.R. (97) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd – died 16 May 

Edwards, Thomas Leslie (89) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd died 13 July 

Elliott, Maxwell (94) – Shell UK Oil 


English, Miss Joan Vera (87) – Shell 


Farrow, Alan R (68) – Shell UK Oil – 

Lowestoft died 30 April 

Fisher, Mrs E.W (98) widow of A. 

Fisher – Shell UK Oil Products died 

17 July 

Ford, Mrs Jean (76) widow of Peter 

Gerald – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

28 May 

Frewer, Capt Peter John (77) – Shell UK 

Oil Products – Shell Centre died 16 May 

Frost, John Colin (68) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd – Lowestoft died 23 June 

gilchrist, Hector D (86) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd – Stanlow Refinery 

died 27 April 

goodchild, William A (87) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd died 9 April 

gordon, Mrs Marjorie Elizabeth (88) 

widow of I.E.S. Gordon – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 3 May 

gosling, Walter Joseph (92) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd – died 25 June 

grinstead, George Frederick (86) – 

Shell UK Oil Products died 12 April 

hall, Lawrence Richard (91) – Shell 


hardick, Kenneth C (89) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd died 23 May 

harding, Mrs Rose Violet (89) 

widow of A. Harding – Shell UK Oil 


harries, Tudor (91) – Shell UK Oil 


hatch, Alan (83) – Shell UK Oil 

Products died 19 July 

henley, Desmond George (85) – 

Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 20 May 

hickey, John (87) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 16 January 

hill, Mrs B.T (85) widow of J.F. Hill – 

Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 19 June 

hodgson, Mrs K (84) widow of G.J. 

Hatherley – Shell UK Oil Products died 

25 March 

holland, Mrs Dorothy (88) wife of 

Dutchy – SUKO – Stanlow died 3 July 

holyman, Miss Barbara L (90) – 

Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 22 May 

honeyman, Ian Henry (65) – Shell 

UK Oil – Killingholme Terminal died 

3 July 

houston, Alan Carswell (79) – Shell 

UK Oil – Thornton died 2 July 

howell, Ronald Dennis (88) – Shell 


hutchinson, R.F.A. (101) – Shell UK 


isted, George Albert (87) – Shell UK 

Oil – Stanlow Refinery died 22 June 

Johnston, J.M. (65) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd – Carrington died 3 March 

Jones, Miss Phyllis (92) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd died 28 June

Jones, Peter (74) – Shell UK Oil – 

Shell Mex House –Strand died 8 July 

Kemp, Mrs P.A. (87) widow of S.G. 

Kemp – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

13 May 

Lang, Alfred Thomas (80) – Shell UK 

Oil – Haydock Terminal died 17 March 

Lewis, Brian (76) – Shell UK Oil – 

Jarrow Terminal died 2 July 

Lincoln, Alan (78) – Shell UK Oil – 

Teesport Refinery died 19 April 

Loible, John Elliott (85) – Shell UK Oil 


Long, Mrs. Rosemary (91) widow of 

L. Long – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

22 May 

Low, William John (80) – Shell UK Oil 


mackenzie, William M.C (86) – Shell 


marks, James (89) – Shell UK Oil 


marks, L (85) – Shell UK Oil Products 

Ltd died 26 April 

maywood, Raymond E (79) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd – Shell Haven 

Refinery died 13 April 

mcgough, John James (86) – Shell 

UK Oil – Barton Lubricants died 2 April 

milne, A.W (86) – Shell UK Oil – 

Shell Centre died 6 June 

moore, John Peter (81) – Shell UK Oil 


morgan, Mrs H (91) widow of J.L. 

Morgan – Shell UK Oil Products died 

1 May 

munby, R.K (92) – Shell UK Oil 


Nelson, Cyril James (82) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd – Fleet Shell Tankers 

died 4 June 

Nicholson, William (86) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd died 19 July 

O’brien, Dennis (87) – Shell UK Oil 


Pallett, Mrs D.M. (94) widow of L.C. 

Pallett – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

13 June 

Patton, W (74) – Shell UK Oil Products 

– Stanlow Refinery died 4 August 

Perkins, Mrs E.P (82) – widow of J.J. 

Perkin – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

25 June 

Pritchard, Derek (85) – Shell UK Oil 

– Stanlow Refinery died 11 June 

Proctor, Mrs Margaret (73) – widow 

of Charles Brian – Shell UK Oil 


Pyle, Andrew Cyril (64) – Shell UK Oil 


Raeburn, Robert (81) – Shell UK Oil 

Products – Shell Centre died 10 May 

Reeve, Mrs N.C. (97) widow of G.H. 

Reeve – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

7 June 

Reeves, Alan Herbert (73) – Shell UK 

Oil – Stanlow Refinery died 6 July 

Revie, Henry Hudson (90) – Shell UK 


Richards, Mrs Gladys (90) – Shell UK 


Roberts, David Lewis (93) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd died 28 July 

Robinson, Dr Allan (66) – Shell UK Oil 

Products Ltd – Thornton died 21 May 

Rosher, Peter Harold (85) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd died 3 April 

Rothney, Mrs Margaret W (81) 

widow of Walter – Shell UK Oil 


Rowden, Miss Susan (77) – Shell UK 


Russell, Mrs Doreen (81) widow of 

Henry Ernest – Shell UK Oil Products 


Rutter, Philip J (90) – Shell UK Oil 


Sansom, Gordon Albert (78) – Shell 

UK Oil Products Ltd – Plymouth Terminal 

died 26 July 

Sayers, John Edward (67) – Shell UK 

Oil – Stanlow Refinery died 1 August 

Seldon, B (82) – Shell UK Oil – Shell 

Haven Terminal died 6 May 

Shaw, Anthony V.M (75) – Shell UK 

Oil Products died 8 June 

Sherman, J.S. (85) – SMBP died 26 

April 

Skeldon, Colin Frederick (89) – Shell 


Smart, Mrs Barbara Mary (79) widow 

of C.A. Smart – Shell UK Oil Products 


Smith, Anthony John (81) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd – Shell Centre died 

18 June 

OBITuARIES 

South, Mrs Dorothy (84) – Shell UK 

Oil Products Ltd died 17 June 

Sykes, Mrs C (89) widow of 

Raymond – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd 

died 25 June 

Thompson, A (76) widower of Mrs E. 

Barker – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 

20 April 

Thornton, Mrs Shirley Patricia 

(77) widow of Patrick – Shell UK Oil 


Townsend, Montegue R (73) – Shell 

UK Oil – Reading Terminal died 10 

April 

Trenery, Maurice (78) – Shell UK Oil 

Products – Shell Haven Terminal died 

27 July 

Turner, John T (87) – Shell Tankers 

(UK) Ltd died 9 February 

Warner, Mrs E.M. (74) widow of P. 

Warner – Shell UK Oil Products died 

21 July 

Waterman, William Robert (79) – 

Shell UK Oil Products Ltd – Shell Centre 

died 16 May 

Whittle, Mrs Marie V (83) widow of 

William – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd 

died 2 June 

Wilkins, Donald James (83) – Shell 

UK Oil – Teesport Refinery died 10 

June 

Wills, Mrs Doris (85) widow of Derek 

– Shell UK Oil Products Ltd died 4 June 

Worrall, Mrs Doris (78) wife of Keith 

– SUK Thornton Resesarch died 17 

May 

Wright, Bernard (86) – Shell Research 

Ltd died 19 December 2011 

Writer, Mrs Kathleen (84) widow of 

D.A. Writer – Shell UK Oil Products Ltd 

died 31 July died 31 July 

Wynne-Jones, Dave (80) – Shell UK 

Oil – Barton Lubricants died 16 March 


SHELL.cO.uK/SPA

SPA News Autumn 2012 - Shell UK

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